The Fox and the Wolf
by TT Snim
Summary: Non Yaoi. Kakshi realizes that Naruto isn't as invulnerable as every one thinks, and now he may be the only one who can save the blond. But when Iruka discovers a dark secret about Kakashi will the paper working teacher do more harm than good? And what exactly does Garra's death have to do with all of this?
1. Part one:Root Chapter one:Loss

This story takes place after the fight with Deidara and Sasori and directly before the Sora filler story arc according to the anime. Kakashi, after taking Deidara's arms off with his new sharingan technique, is still in the hospital while Naruto suffers from violent nightmares.

This is an AU and diverges from canon.

Loss  
TT Snim

* * *

_ Who decides to allow a man to care for three children that do not belong to him. Who then decides, after he has lost one of those precious little ones, that he may continue to care for the surviving two? Are we ninja destined to loses every thing we hold dear? I loved that child more than all the children in the world. As a ninja I am not allowed to cry for him. Shall I cry for the two who have yet to die? _

_They will not cry for them selves._

_Minato- Third Great Shinobi World War_

* * *

Night had enveloped the village hidden in the leaves and a chilly breeze was rolling through the streets. Dried and dead brown leaves tapped along the walls and roofs of the buildings. One leaf broke away from the others and tumbled unceremoniously into a dimly lit window. It tangled in the thin curtains before falling to the white polished floor.

Everything was white. The walls were white and the ceiling was white. The bed was white and the sheets were white and they tangled and writhed with the form underneath them. Gray hair fell in damp clumps over dim eyes.

Kakashi shifted painfully in his alabaster prison. His body was only now coming out of the shock it was subjected to from the use of the Sharingan, and every cell in his body was alive with heat and pain and chills and aches. Desperately he tried to distract himself from his situation with one of his books.

From between the faded, yellowed covers was a world bright and vibrant, full of action and romance. When he felt well, Kakashi could easily slip into the role of the dashing lead character who was a spy and a gentleman. 'Kashiwa', the handsome and dashing hero, never failed a mission and all the women he met fell madly in love with him.

The book, propped on his lap, was open to a particularly vivid kaleidoscope of events. However, Kakashi's eyes could only see the white of the walls in front of him.

Pain was racing down his spine like chidori from his fingertips. He took a sharp breath in and rolled his shoulders before lowering his head and exhaling; the pain changed direction and spread to his ribs, hips and legs. Gritting his teeth against the cramps, Kakashi stretched. The movement flattened his lap and his book, with its picturesque white beach and scantily clad women, fell to the floor with a dull thud.

He grunted with irritation and leaned over to see where it had landed. It was not too far away; if he stretched and was careful he wouldn't fall out of bed. As it was, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get back into bed, and he knew Tsunade would have a fit if she found him on the floor with one of Jaraiya's books. Sakura would probably also have a fit, but as her teacher Kakashi outranked her and would have some leverage to cut her off if she began to rant. As he looked at his book he wondered if the risk was worth it.

Risk. His whole life revolved around risk. Like the main character in the book, his life was filled with tough decisions and even tougher enemies. Unlike the book, Kakashi made mistakes in choosing which course of action he would take. The consequences always ranged from a disaster to outright deadly situations.

Maybe that's why he read the books. Jaraiya painted such a wonderfully glamorous world that it was easy to lose oneself in the story. It was even easier to place yourself in the cast of the hero, who always got the bad guy, the girl, and the fame without getting hurt or heartbroken.

Taking a short breath, Kakashi rolled and reached for the sprawled hardback. It was only an inch from his fingertips when pain rushed back through his spine and shoulders. He bit back a moan and hung, half on the bed and half off, waiting for this round of agony to subside. Hazy as his vision was, he could still see his book. Fingers danced over the hard cover and for a moment he wondered if they were his; but his fingers were gripping the sheets and keeping him from falling all the way to the floor. The book was lifted and a steady, warm hand pulled him back up to the bed.

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto's voice was quiet and tinted with gentle reproof.

He heard the book set on the night stand and took a breath. Nothing but disappointment waited on the warm white sands of the last chapter any way. The problem with his books, the only problem with _Come Come Paradise_, was that the one woman Kashiwa wanted the most was always out of reach. She was as elusive as a ghost in the dark.

He felt the same warm fingers wrap around his own trembling shoulders and guide him back to bed.

"Naruto." He forced a smile despite the lingering pain. "This is a surprise. It's very late, you should be asleep."

Naruto slowly let go of the throbbing shoulder and stepped back. "So should you."

Kakashi frowned under his mask but did not let it show in his eyes. Just as elusive as the girl in the book was Kakashi's indefinable relationship with Naruto. He'd been training the young blond for a number of years now, discounting the three when he was traveling with Jaraiya, and he still wasn't sure how to treat him when they weren't on a mission or training.

Long ago Kakashi had realized Naruto was focused almost single-mindedly on his dream of becoming Hokage. While Naruto was kind and genuinely interested in the wellbeing of others, his one track mind limited his conversational skills and social habits. He made up for his faults by his inexhaustible energy and dedication to training.

Very little ever seemed to break his joyful steadfastness over his life's mission. Even when confronted with the memory of his missing teammate, Sauske, the blond was an explosive mix of energy and determination. Now as Kakashi studied his student, however, the energy was gone. No joy could be found in Naruto's face and he looked drained and withdrawn. The sight did not sit well with Kakashi and he forced himself to sit up straight in spite of the cramps rolling through his back and sides.

"Why are you here?" He asked bluntly hopping to draw the matter out quickly.

Naruto glanced away and hesitated. His eyes were shadowed from the soft lamp light, but Kakashi could still see that they were unfocused and bloodshot. "I need to know about the seal." He whispered hoarsely.

The words, soft as they were, scraped at Kakashi's mind like metal against bone. "The seal?"

"I. . ." Naruto sighed. "I nearly killed the Pervy-sage." The confession was uttered in a cold flat tone, and the blue eyes turned back to the light, dark and intense.

"No." Kakashi found himself feeling a small roll of anger, though he wasn't sure where it was coming from. "It wasn't you, Naruto."

The blond frowned. "I get angry." He sagged a bit. "When I do, the fox. . ." He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

Kakashi studied his student silently for a long moment. Naruto was not one to overly reflect on his actions. Normally if something happened he simply resolved to train to become stronger and left the worry and the analysis to others. Now there was a darkness lingering over him that seemed to be far deeper than Kakashi thought Naruto was capable of. It was unnerving and palpable. What was worse was that it was in the middle of the night, meaning Naruto had to have been mulling his thoughts over for several hours.

"You simply must become stronger." Kakashi offered. In the past this usually calmed his student, allowing whatever was bothering him to fade. When Naruto glanced away Kakashi added, hopefully, "And learn to keep your cool."

"But if the seal is becoming weak, then no matter how cool I am he'll attack everyone all over again." The words were so thick and dark that it chilled the pain from Kakashi's bones.

"Why are you upset about this now?" He asked slowly, still at a loss as to where this new reflective Naruto was coming from.

"I dream." The boy said simply.

"You dream?" Kakashi asked. "Of what?"

Naruto stepped back and a flicker of fear crossed his face. "I never used to have such terrible nightmares. I'd dream about people hating me or trying to beat me up, but that was when I was little. Then Iruka was kind to me and only Sasuke..." He trailed off and looked away.

"You dream of Sasuke?"

"No." Again his voice was a whisper; as if he was afraid someone other than Kakashi would hear him. "Not since the fox came out last time." He glanced down and Kakashi could see the dark rings under his eyes. Rings like Gaara had, tortured and sleepless. Kakashi turned his eyes away to the book sitting on the night stand.

"What do you dream about?" He knew he didn't want to hear the answer, but he could not ignore Naruto. He could not ignore the pain in those blue eyes. He could not ignore that this could only be another symptom of the weakening seal. There was silence for a very long time before Naruto managed to speak.

"He shows me his memories." The words hung thick in the air for several moments before Kakashi could look back up at his student.

"Naruto I don't..."

"I can't sleep." He said flatly, cutting Kakashi's sentence off.

"No sooner do I close my eyes then I see people getting killed. I see MY HANDS killing them!" He shuddered and held still and quiet for a moment with his eyes closed. Memories were clearly flashing through his mind even now. "I just. . . I'm so tired. But I see Jiraiya-sensei; I see what kyuubi did to him. I see what he did to the village. I beg him to stop but..." He bit the sentence off there with another shudder.

"But what?" Kakashi prompted.

"He laughs at me when he shows me those things." Naruto rubbed his face and took a deep, trembling breath. "I'm going to go crazy." As if to illustrate the statement Kakashi felt a small shift in the younger Ninja's chakra. "Crazy."

Kakashi's pain seemed to numb and become distant, and he had to force himself to breathe for a moment. The energy rolling off of Naruto was a slow, sluggish darkness that he could feel with every fiber of his being. It was growing more and more every moment, like the slow spreading of mold. He'd felt this rolling dark energy before and it caused him extreme discomfort whenever he encountered it. When in ANBU he'd felt it in mild forms here and there among the members, but the only time he'd felt it this strong was when...

Kakashi gave his head a small shake to clear himself of the feeling of numbness. He had to think, to analyze the situation. He had to focus on the person in front of him right now. The fox clearly was making its way into Naruto's mind, if not the waking one then certainly the unconscious one. With the seal growing weaker and weaker every time Naruto lost control, it was hard to say how long it would last. With every high risk mission Naruto took, he had a chance of losing his cool, yet if they denied him a mission he may well set out on his own anyway.

Kakashi realized a lot of the training they did was to distract Naruto from missions he could never be part of. A lot of the missions they went on they went on because Naruto insisted he go. This cycle was solely to keep the fox from enemy hands, but if the fox got loose then all of their careful handling of Naruto would be for naught. Besides wanting to be Hokage, Naruto was obsessed with bringing back his missing teammate, Sasuke. He was blaming himself, something Kakashi understood all too well, for the other student's departure. They had fallen into the pitfalls of rivalry and in the end a fight had erupted that nearly killed Naruto.

While Kakashi could understand that to lose a team mate was more painful than any physical torture that could be forced upon a person, he also knew that if they did not tread carefully, Naruto would be destroyed by his own ambitions. Kakashi had tried to reach the youth, but failed. He now doubted that Sasuke would ever return to the village he hated. But unlike Kakashi, Naruto hoped to bring Sasuke back. It was that hope mixed with suffocating guilt that fed the obsession.

It was that obsession that drove Naruto to go hell bent on every mission he could find that had any trace of Sasuke in it. It was that obsession that Kakashi now found himself facing every time they were together. It had blinded Naruto to the realities around him, and to his own limitations and to the dangers that followed him. It was all-consuming and now the only thing that could break the singular focus of the cheerful and headstrong youth was the cursed monster locked away inside of him.

If at all possible Kakashi knew the fox would drive Naruto mad to force him to release the seal. It was a terrifying thought.

"Can you sleep at all?" He asked, forcing his voice to remain calm and free of the desperation and fear that was growing inside.

"Some, but I can't stand it." Naruto wilted, a visible testament to the horrors he was seeing every night. The dark chakra was almost suffocating. "I sleep, maybe for an hour or so, and then the dreams come." He looked smaller, shrunken in on himself, vulnerable. It pained Kakashi more than the cramps racing through him, and he felt a mix of guilt and anger over the obsessions that had so driven Naruto.

After all, Naruto wasn't the only one obsessed with bringing Sasuke back. Kakashi had lost people, dear people, and losing Sasuke was like watching his past all over again. Only Sasuke wasn't dead and in a small way, Kakashi realized, if they could bring Sasuke back he had hoped that he could find some peace from his own mistakes. But now, only all too late, did the reality of his endeavor hit him.

It was partly his fault the seal was dissolving and the fox was eating way at Naruto's mind. It was his fault Naruto had nearly been killed. He had been too uncaring, too trusting that things would work themselves out; too distant. "Stay with me tonight." He said quickly, silently resolving to protect Naruto this time.

Naruto looked up, confused and somewhat abashed. "What, here?"

"I'll wake you up if you look like you are having a nightmare and you can get some sleep." He explained quickly. Naruto's ninja way was to keep his promises. He'd promised to bring Sasuke back. He'd promised to become Hokage. He couldn't keep those promises if he was destroyed by the fox.

Naruto glanced back at the bed behind him. "But what will Granny Tsunade say? If she finds out what's happening I'll never be let out of the village again." Sorrow flickered over his face.

"She will have to know." Kakashi said slowly, fearful of frightening away his student. "This is a very dangerous situation."

"I know." He whispered. "But if I can't go on missions. . ." He shook his head and took a deep, trembling breath.

The images had to be horrifying to sap all the joy from his student.

"Lay down on the other bed." Kakashi urged. "Sleep tonight and tomorrow we'll try to plan out a course of action."

"You'll wake me up?" He was pleading, even if his voice was flat and in that cold half-whisper.

"I will. I will wake you at the first sign of a nightmare." And he meant it. Kakashi would protect Naruto from the Fox if he could; if only for one night.

Naruto nodded and stepped over to sit on the adjacent bed. "Promise?"

The dreams had to be hell.

"I Promise."

Naruto pulled off his shirt. Next he peeled off his shoes with a tired grunt.

"Kakashi-sensei?" His eyes were already sliding closed.

"Yes?" Kakashi watched him keenly; his whole body seemed to be thin and pale.

"Please... Please don't let me dream... because I know what I'll find..."

"You won't dream tonight. I promise." He'd keep it. He had to.

Naruto nodded and a small flicker of a half smile showed. He rolled on to his side and pulled his feet up. "Thank you." He mumbled and his eyes slid completely closed. His breathing slowly leveled out and soon Kakashi knew he was asleep.

Kakashi watched him for several minutes, observing the gaunt and thin look to the usually unstoppable and unpredictable ninja. Slowly it dawned on the Copy ninja that Naruto was entrusting his sanity to him. All of the sudden Kakashi wished he'd picked someone else. Someone who didn't have the habit of losing people. He was no storybook hero.

Reaching over, he picked up the book from the night stand and opened it up to the sandy white beaches. This hero was always winning his fights and finishing his missions. But the one thing he wanted most was never within his reach. Closing the book Kakashi realized he wanted something too. He wanted to know he could protect someone and never lose them. He wanted to have just one person who would always be there, no matter what.

He'd lost Sasuke, just as he'd lost so many others.

But Naruto...

"Sleep well." He whispered as he turned out the lights.

Hope for Sasuke would never die completely, but he had no faith in the runaway ninja any more. Revenge had robbed the Uchiha of compassion and loyalty. Even if the dark haired student returned, Kakashi could never hope to reach him as he was.

He could believe in the dreams and hopes of Naruto, however, and one day that elusive goal of saving just one person may be within his reach.

* * *

I want to thank Orodruin for beta reading this chapter (Though that's all of the beta reading I've had so forgive the rest of this story's mistakes) and then sending to to me! Because of that, Orodruin, this chapter is dedicated to you!

Kashiwa means Oak, and I thought it would work well for the '_Come Come Paradise'_ main character's name. It only occurred to me once I wrote it out that it looked and sounded like Kakashi. So maybe it's doublly fitting?


	2. Two Teachers

OK, you asked me for more and I _**FINALLY**_ broke through writer's block for this chapter! UGH.. never before was writer's block so _VICIOUS_! Any way, I hope you like this second chapter!

Chapter Two: Two Teachers

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Iruka was more thinly built than the other ninja in the village his age. He was more soft spoken and friendly than the others as well. With a pleasant smile for any who crossed his path, and a near endless supply of patients for children he was seen by almost all as kind and selfless.

As a teacher by day he honed his child rearing skills to near perfection. Hardly a semester went by where some child outcast did not receive phenomenal support and care beyond his education. So doting was Iruka over his students that many times he could be seen on lunch treating one to raman.

After school by night, when his young pupils were all safely tucked away at home, Iruka took on his other duties as a trusted member of the Hokage's office. Seated in the ever busy report room he diligently, read, sorted, and filed all incoming reports. So many hours had he spent behind the desk here, buried in paper work, that he'd acquired the name of Paper Work Ninja. While it had absolutely no sparkle out side of the Hokage tower walls, with in the towing building it was only spoken with the utmost respect. The Paper Work Ninja had access to nearly all the reports in the building. If the Hokage could read them so could he, no questions asked.

This unbarred allowance gave the soft spoken, kind hearted ninja unlimited access to every secret ever born by ink to paper from every Hokage age. Such was the regard for him with in the fortified walls that as he walked through lesser ranked Ninja would step aside and bow. Iruka being of the temperament he was, would stop and greet them with an even lower bow, flowed by a genuine inquiry to their well being.

From his years of gentle labour and passive nature he looked on first glance less capable to fight than the other ninja, and even less than some civilians.

This made him no less terrifying as he stormed the normally tranquil halls clutching a crumpled report like a Kunai battle ready. The polite lesser ninja fled from him as he tossed a venomous glare at any who would stray in to his path. With knuckles white around white paper he lifted his fist and pondered on the Hokage's door before slamming it open. Nostrils flared, eyes pierced the over bright room and landed on Tsunade's face, a predator honed in on unsuspecting pray. Tsunade looked up bewildered, her mouth half open with a bean bun only an inch from being devoured whole.

So startling was it to see Iruka, the gentle Paper Work Ninja, fuming in unbridled rage that she didn't have the presence of mind to be angry for the interruption of her breakfast. She glanced at the paper, twice, to make sure it wasn't a dagger, before setting the bean bun down.

"What is the meaning of this?" He thrust the paper towards her and only her unmentioned number of decades of ninja training allowed her not to flinch back.

"Calm down, set that paper on my desk, close the door, and take a seat, Iruka." She spoke in calm, cold words, hoping her voice held enough authority to remind him that, despite his well deserved trusted position, he was still just a paper pusher. He glared for several long moments before slamming the paper down then slamming the door shut. There was another long moment before he took a shaking breath.

"Now sit down."

"I'd like to remain standing!" He snapped back almost before she could finish her sentence. Frowning she leaned back in her chair and casually picked up the report.

"Fine. Stand then." She knew when to push, and when to let go. Picking battles carefully had afforded her not only her life, but her position. "But do so quietly and facing the window or the door, do not look at me with those angry eyes. What ever it is, I didn't do it to you or any one else."

She glanced over the paper as he rubbed his hand over his head and stepped stiffly to the window. Silently he leaned forward and rested his palms on the sill. A second later he let out a rough breath.

Satisfied he was at least still obedient, if only a bit agitated, she read the report over. It had been written two nights before by Kakashi and she had yet to read it. Due to his injured state she had allowed him time to recover the use of his arms before he tried to write the report. Sakura had turned hers in, followed shortly by Naruto's. She'd read both reports and found them to be satisfactory and un-alarming. Kakashi's looked no different to her and echoed all of the previous statements.

The report was characteristically dry, void of any unnecessary detail, and clear to understand. She had to read it twice to pick up any thing that may upset the Paper Work Ninja, but what ever it had been she could not see it in Kakashi's words. The mission had been a success for all members of the team. Gara of the sand had been recovered and now both the Leaf and the Sand were mending old deep wounds.

As she read it over a second time she could hear Iruka letting out another agitated breath. Glancing up she smiled just so to see he was still fixed willingly to the window. He still knew his place under her thumb, so she decided that if he continued to mind his position she would forgive him for interrupting her breakfast.

"Every thing I see here is as far as I know as it should be. Every thing about this report is positive for the People of the Leaf. The Akatsuki are one man down and one man wounded."

Iruka's head snapped up and he shot her a withered look. "_How_ was the other member wounded? Read it again." There was fire in his eyes and a bite to his words.

She glanced back at the paper and read it over slowly. "The Mangekyo Sharingan." As soon as she said it she felt a cold chill race down her spine. "Oh..."

"Are you aware of what this means?" Iruka asked coldly. "Do you know how one must acquire the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

She looked back up at him and forced her face in to a calm mask of authority. "Of course I do. This Sharingan can only be activated by a traumatic event such as a death or grave injury to some one the Sharingan wilder knows and cares about."

Iruka pushed him self of the window sill and stepped up to her desk. "I've gone over every report from Kakashi written in the last five years. Not one mentions the Mangekyo Sharingan. Why now? How did he get it? When?!"

Tsunade leaned back, partly to appear calm and collected, and partly to distance her self from Iruka's razor blade chakra that was whipping out from every inch of his body. "First, before all else, we have to remember Kakashi is _NOT_ an Uchiha. He may have spontaneously reached the Mangekyo Sharingan with out a traumatising event."

"I thought of that." Iruka half hissed. "But then I found this." From his back pocket he pulled another report and thrust it her way. She glanced at it then up in to his blazing eyes before taking it. In silence she opened it and scanned it's contents. "Iruka this. . ."

Again she glanced up at his dark eyes. "I know." Was all he could manage.

* * *

Through white hot agony and sweat Kakashi knew he was seeing things. He was seeing strange dancing shapes over Naruto that looked like fox tails and ears. But with Naruto sleeping all night and only the dark oozing chakra flowing out of his form Kakashi knew that there was no chance the Fox was getting though. Still the images danced. A tail would bubble up, almost inappreciable if you weren't focused on the chakra entirely, then dissolve like a flame that had gone too high. Ears would pluck up and shiver before slowly fading and claws, like razor blades teased the sheets and linens.

Through wave after wave of pain Kakashi tried to understand what he was seeing. He was exhausted. His body was depleted of energy. His mind was filling with fog. It was so very hard to breath.

The ears and tail swayed like leaves in the breeze. Claws plucked at the pillowcase. For many more minutes it came and went, each time growing stronger before vanishing. Then, after the moon had set and the wind died the shimmering chakra grew and remained. At that point Naruto had started to moan and twist in his covers. The sound, light as it was, snapped Kakashi from his hazy state and he realised the fox cloak was real. It wasn't made of fire, but of Naruto's own chakra.

Shifting on his own bed Kakashi leaned towards his student and studied the strange sight. With out his Sharingan it was hard to see the chakra at all, but it WAS there. He called Naruto's name out and the fox cloak dissolved. Naruto fell back to sleep in an instant. But it was only seconds before the tail started to reform.

Focusing hard Kakashi pulled every scrap of energy he had in to his eye to form the Sharingan. Having used almost every last ounce of energy it had shut down, some thing that happened very rarely. It was weak but he could make out more clearly what he was seeing. While Naruto was very much asleep Kyubi was very much awake. From the stomach thin lines of energy were flowing out and up. Forcing the Sharingan to reshape Kakashi wove a little of his own energy in to Naruto's. It wasn't much, just enough to make a very small genjitsu had his student been awake, but it was enough to suppress the fox.

He could only hold it for a moment before his energy gave out with a river of lava like agony pouring through his body. The tail and ears reshaped in an instant. Kakashi rode the hot river of pain for a minute before it calmed, turning to a small stream.

He could hardly breath.

Still the fox was there, and still he had a promise to keep. He'd have to temper his Sharingan use and only apply it when the chakra oozing out was stabilised. That way he could keep it from harming Naruto until the blond awoke.

The dance of dark energy and red hot pain waltzed through the room like courting devils all night. No sooner would he chase the nightmares away then they would return. But Naruto was sleeping and by morning's light Kakashi could see the colour was coming back to his cheeks. The fox hadn't given up, however, and started to work harder and faster. The more Naruto slept the less the fox seemed the bother him and the less the fox bothered him the harder it tried to do just that.

By dawn the pain rolling though Kakashi has become more than just lava. If it were possible he wondered if the fox was now in side of him, eating him alive from the inside out.

His mind was consumed with the images of tails and ears and claws and his body was melting under electric acid and fire.

Just as darkness was creeping in to the corners of his vision, a sure sign he was about to pass out, there was a rough knock at the door. He tore his gaze off of Naruto to see his other student entering with a tray of medical supplies. She spotted him and yelped. The tray hit the floor and Naruto sat straight up with a cry all his own.

Kakashi grit his teeth as all the sound and movement overwhelmed him sending his mind to reeling and the pain to wash over him completely. The light was fading quickly and he knew he couldn't remain conscious any longer.

Sakura stood, shocked, as Kakashi, who she FULLY EXPECTED to be sleeping soundly, was in-fact hunched over and gasping for air like a man being strangled. His whole chest was heaving with the effort and a thin sheen of sweat had soaked his cloths, sheets and mask. Big cloudy drops were clinging to his brow and falling in sloppy splatters over the covers. Naruto, who for reasons Sakura could not fathom had been sleeping on the other bed, sprung to live with a startled cry.

The blond gazed wildly at her like a frightened animal for a moment, before turning to Kakashi. "Sensi!" He sprung out of bed, stumbling a little as he fought the tangled sheets, and came to a jilted halt next to Kakashi's bed. "Deep breaths!"

Kakashi closed his eyes and dipped his head, still fighting for air and shaking. "N. . .Nar. . ."

"Shhh." Naruto hushed him and reached out, rubbing the older Ninja's back. "Just breath."

Kakashi alternatively gasped and grunted for several moments as Naruto tended to him. Sakura, unsure of just what was going on, held back and slowly knelt to pick up the contents of the tray. She wasn't sure just what she'd walked in on, and she wasn't going to rush the situation until she understood it better. Glancing up to assess her teacher she caught Naruto's hollow worried eyes.

'_Do some thing_!' He mouthed to her desperately. She abandoned the ruse of straightening up and stepped up to the bed.

"Kakashi Sensei?" She prodded gently.

He crushed his eyes closed and tried to speak, but it came out as a low stilted groan. His fingers tangled them selves in the bed sheets and turned white at the knuckles. She glanced up at Naruto who was glancing up at her.

"What is going ON in here?"

Naruto's mouth moved, but no words formed.

Kakashi started to go limp, distracting her from Naruto for the moment. "We need to lay him down."

"Right." Naruto carefully pulled Kakashi back in to the pillow and held him there as he writhed a bit. "Just relax." He said in as soothing a voice as he could muster. If Kakashi had heard him he didn't respond.

Sakura laid her hands on her trembling teacher's chest. "Go get Tsunade, Naruto."

He was gone before she could blink.


	3. You Thought You Knew Some One

Well, here is the next instalment. I will be going back and editing chapter one and two this week for consistency errors and grammar problems. As some of you may have guessed I am no wizard with writing. I also had problems uploading this chapter, so things may be messed up format wise. If you see any problems with these chapters DO let me know!

Thank you much for the encouragement thus far, I hope you like this next chapter!

EDIT: Fixed this one up a bit, hope it flows better.

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Chapter three: You Thought You Knew Some One

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Tsunade held the report Iruka had given her up only for a moment or two before laying it down on the desk. "I'm not sure why you are upset over this." She looked up in to his seething eyes, searching for a reason behind the rage.

"That should _tell_ you why." He half spat.

"Kakashi can not be held responsible for the death of that. . ." A violent knock erupted from the door. "HOKAGE-SAMA!" Naruto threw the door open, panic stricken. "Hokage-sama you have to come quick!"

Iruka's irate face shifted in to a mask of kind hearted calmness. He turned and smiled. "Naruto, it's quite rude to interrupt the Hokage in her office during breakfast."

"Forgive me Iruka, but this is an emergency!"

Tsunade cast a cool look at Iruka who had him self interrupted her. He failed to notice. Turning her focus to the blond she snatched the two reports up from her desk and stuffed them in to a drawer. "What's the matter Naruto?"

The blond rushed past his former teacher and slapped his palms down on the desk. "You have to come quick, it's Kakashi. He can't breath!"

Iruka's mask of kindness slipped to some thing far less pleasant for a moment. Tsunade shot him another look before turning fully to the young ninja. "What happened? Why can't he breath?"

"I don't know. I just.. when I woke up he was gasping for air. I think he passed out." Naruto ran his hand through his limp hair. "Sakura told me to get you."

Tsunade stood and gathered a couple of medical scrolls. "Stay here and wait for me to call for you. Iruka, you can go now." She stuffed the scrolls in to her pocket and stepped around the desk.

"Yes Hokage Sama." Iruka was again forcing his Paper Work Ninja face. Tsunade ignored it and hurried out the door, leaving it open.

Naruto, still some what winded from his run, slumped against the desk. "I'm sorry I didn't wait to be let in, Iruka Sensei."

Iruka reached out and shut the door with a soft click."I happens when we have bad news, Tsunade is used to it."

"Yeah, I guess as a Hoikage she would be." Naruto twisted around and looked up at his former teacher. "Aren't you leaving?"

Iruka ignored the question. "You just said when you _woke up_ Kakashi was gasping for air." He turned and gave Naruto a soft pained look. "Were you sleeping in his room?"

Naruto froze and look up in to the clear brown eyes of his former teacher. "I. . ." He stood fully and shifted nervously on his feet. "I was." He said flatly.

"Why?"

Naruto scrambled for an answer. All of his inner torment, all of his horrible dreams, they were nothing he wanted the other ninja to see. Not after he'd been so very kind. But he knew he couldn't lie to Iruka, the man was a teacher of children after all. He could spot a lie a mile away before it had even been told. Naruto remembered all of the times he'd been caught in a lie as a student. Just for a moment he felt like he was in the principles office all over again about to be questioned and subsequently punished for some thing he'd done. He'd never been able to lie his way out of a bad situation with Iruka around.

"Naruto?" Iruka folded his arms over his chest. "I want honesty here, young man."

"I'm worried about him." He finally replied, desperate for an answer that would pass the grade. It wasn't a lie, but it didn't tell the truth.

"You are?" For a moment Iruka had a strange expression, but it melted back in to worry. "Naruto. . ." He gazed down and frowned. "Naruto, has Kakashi ever. . ." He stopped again.

"What is it, Iruka sensei?"

"Have you ever been afraid of him?"

The question caught Naruto's already addled mind off guard. "Uh. . . Sure, some times. But all teachers can be scary. You should see Asuma when he's training Choji. When he's eating during a drill Asuma goes and. . ."

Iruka cut him off. "That's not what I meant. Has he ever tried to hurt any one on your team before?"

"What?" Naruto shoved off the desk and gave Iruka an incredulous stare. "No!" Iruka looked down and Naruto could see he was searching him for the truth. "I trust him with my life!" He added quickly. "Why...? Why are you asking such a thing?"

Iruka's expression shifted again to some thing blank and he gave his pony tail a small toss. "Do you know what a Mangekyo Sharingan is?" the question was so flat and casual the topic could have been the weather.

"Yes, it's the sharingan Kakashi used to stop that Akatsuki guy and suck up his explosion." Iruka was staring fown at him with out any emotion. Unsure how to gage this reaction of his former teacher Naruto added to his reply, hoping it would register. "He saved us." Still nothing. "That's how he ended up in the hospital. He was protecting us."

Iruka stared, unconvinced. "Do you know how someone gets a Mangekyo Sharingan?"

"...No..."

Iruka sighed, finally looking just a tough annoyed. "Naruto I want you to stay away from Kakashi."

"What?!"

"Stay away from him." Iruka's voice was a strange mix of fire and ice, numb and passion. "I don't trust him."

* * *

The moment Tsunade opened the door she could hear the silver-haired Copy-Cat ninja gasping desperately. His hands were clutching his chest loosely and his whole body was trembling. Sakura was at his side, trying to sooth and comfort, but he was oblivious to her presence.

Setting her medical scrolls down Tsunade rushed to his side and leaned forward to look in to his eyes. They were widely dilated and unfocused. The Sharingan was dark.

"Kakashi, calm down and take in a deep breath for me." Tsunade pressed her hand to his forehead to check for fever. While he was hot he wasn't burning up. He shuddered and a small whimper passed through the mask. "Deep breath!" She urged while placing her other hand on his chest.

He gulped the air like a man drowning.

"Good, again, but try to do so slowly." She let some of her chakra leak out in to him searching for any he may have recovered, but there was none. He shuddered and gasped franticly. "Shhhh, Slowly, lets see if you can make it all the way to the count of two."

He nodded under her hand.

"OK, deep breath. . . One. Two. Let it out."

He gasped. "Ho. . . Ka. . ."

"Shh, not yet. You need to try for three. OK? On my count."

He nodded and whimpered again, screwing his eyes shut tight in pain.

* * *

"Why!?" Naruto backed up to the desk.

Iruka knelt and gently set his hands on Naruto's shoulders his expression was changing again. "I can't tell you what I know right now, but I need you to trust me. Kakashi is a danger to his team, to you."

Naruto paled and puled back, but Iruka's steel grip he had on Naruto's shoulders held him firmly in pace. The expression of sweet concern spreading over his face contrasted sharply with the crushing grip. A sudden burst of images of a much younger Iruka crying for his parents, raced through Naruto's mind. The whole scenario sent a shiver down his spine. Focusing past the memories as best he could, he looked the teacher in the eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"He may try to kill you."

* * *

"OK, Deep breath in. One. Two. Three. Hold it hold it. OK."

The air came out in a rush, the shaking was dying down.

"What's wrong with him?" Sakura asked from her corner of the room. She looked frightened, wide eyed and tense from the shadows where she was standing. She looked much more like a frightened child rather than the capable warrior and medic she was.

Glancing down at the still trembling pale face under her hand Tsunade studied Kakashi with a critical eye. His heart was pounding so hard she could almost see it moving his chest past the shaking. She'd seen this before in ninja who'd come in after a battle. Kakashi's eyes were wild with fear and pain and he was shaking so hard it was rattling the bed. This was panic plain and simple. But from what she couldn't fathom. He'd never panicked before. Never. Kakashi was the man who could look a monster in the eye and yawn.

Searching for a trigger in the room all she could see was Sakura, the unmade bed next to his, and the standard medical supplies. She searched her mind for who could have been a patient next to him, but none came. Then she remembered what Naruto had said about waking up and seeing him in this state. That offered less help than it should have. The only other thing that she could think of was what Iruka had said about the ANBU and the Mangekyo Sharingan. Kakashi hadn't been on a mission with his team in over three years until the last one where the Mangekyo Sharingan had been used AND a jinchūrik had been killed.

Perhaps there was merit to what Iruka had seen after all. Glancing back at Sakura she decided now was not the time to voice her thoughts. Still her student was demanding an answer silently.

"This is a most likely a panic attack. His body is reacting in a fight or flight response, thinking he was being attacked, for reasons I'm not sure of." Looking down at him she found he was looking back up at her almost pleadingly. Weather Iruka was right or not didn't matter now. What mattered was that he was still trapped in what ever horror he was seeing. "It's OK now. You have to relax."

"I am trying." He rasped. "Every thing. . . _burns_. . ."

"Kakashi Sensei." Sakura whispered. Rushing forward she took one of his trembling hands in hers. He gave her hand a very small acknowledging squeeze.

* * *

Naruto tried to pull away again, but the teacher's grasp tightened. "That's insane! Kakashi would NEVER hurt one of his own team mates!"

"He already has." The strange kind smile lingered, but some thing else entirely was visible in his eyes.

* * *

The panic was fading, but his body was still in the awful throws of the adrenalin aftermath. His face contorted to a look of agony for a moment before he forced him self to take another slow breath. If the suffocating spasms continued much longer he could pass out. "I can give you some thing to help you sleep through the pain." She offered. "You don't need to suffer needlessly, you are in a Hospital." Tsunade again smoothed back his messy hair. Team killer or no he was still a member of the Leaf.

"No! No sleeping!" He started to gasp again and looked up with a fair amount of panic. "I need to. . ." He closed his eyes and sucked his breath in. "I. . . Naruto. . ."

"OK, calm down. "What about Naruto?"

His breathing calmed a little, but he did not relax. "Where is he?"

"I left him in my office. He came to get me when he woke up and saw you fighting for air." She paused for a moment before letting her hand rest once more on his chest. "He was sleeping here, right?" She glanced over at the unmade bed.

Kakashi looked away, avoiding the question.

* * *

Iruka had never lied to him, not once. But some thing felt different, unnatural. Remembering Kakashi's promise from the night before Naruto clenched his fists, angry and fearful. "He is my teacher. He would _never_ hurt me. He will _never_ hurt one of his own team mates."

"You do _not_ know what I know." Iruka firm grip tightened. The strange smile morphed in to a sinister sneer. "I only want to protect you."

* * *

"Sakura please go fetch Naruto." Tsunade said with out looking her way. Sakura let go of her Sensei's shaking hand and hurried wordlessly out of the room. For a moment Tsunade lingered over Kakashi before walking over and closing the door. If this was because of the Mangekyo Sharingan she had to know now, before the situation got worse. There was no telling what power Kakashi could obtain.

And for the first time he was certifiably, totally, mentally unhinged. The whole scenario frightened Tsunade more than she'd ever admit. She had to know if Iruka was right about the Copy-cat ninja. She had to know the truth because Kakashi was in charge of their own jinchūriki who's seal was coming loose. If Iruka was right then. . .

"I have a couple of questions for you. I realise now may not be the best time, but time is some thing we may be running out of."

Then Konoha may fall to the fox any way, despite all the efforts and sacrifice that had been made in the past. She couldn't take the risk of not knowing, just because it was Kakashi.

He gazed up at her with trust and took a deep breath of air. "About. . . what?" His composure was returning, but not his well-being.

* * *

"He would _never_ hurt any one that wasn't an enemy!"

* * *

Tsunade folded her arms and leaned against the door, forcing her self to be calm. "About an ANBU Root member you encountered two years ago while on a mission near the land of Mist."

What little colour he had in his fevered cheeks drained away.

* * *

"Iruka you are hurting me." Naruto twisted and pulled until he was out from between the desk and his teacher. The older man let go, looking almost sorry as he stood.

"You stay away from him Naruto. He killed some one who was once on his team."

"Then he was the enemy!" Naruto snapped and backed up all the way to the door.

* * *

"Did you kill her?" Tsunade asked coolly.

He closed his eyes and shuddered. "Why are you asking me this now?" There was no life in his voice, no will, only hollow exhaustion.

"Because it's important now."

* * *

Naruto was thrust away from the door as it flew open revealing Sakura. He stumbled forward and nearly fell before catching him self. Looking back he saw her gasping from an apparent run.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Come with me, hurry!" She stepped in to the room grabbed his wrist.

"What's wrong Sakura?" Iruka asked, blocking her way.

"I don't know." She glanced around Iruka and then up at him. "Please excuse us. Lady Tsunade asked me to fetch Naruto for Kakashi Sensei."

When Iruka hesitated Naruto shot him a glare. "Iruka-sensei, please!"

Iruka hesitated only for a moment before stepping to the side with a frown. "Sorry, Naruto-kun."

Naruto allowed her to pull him from the room and down towards the door. He followed her silently, trembling as the distance between him and Iruka grew. They were out the door and heading towards the hospital when Naruto snapped out of his shock. Stopping in his tracks he pulled Sakura to a halt.

"Wait." There was a tremor in his voice.

Sakura looked back with an edge of danger and urgency. "What is it?"

* * *

"Why is it important now?!" He rasped, his head was still down and his fingers were clutching the sheets so hard his knuckles were white.

"That's for me to know."

* * *

"I think some thing is wrong with Iruka sensei."

Sakura glanced up at the window on Tsunade's office and Naruto followed her gaze. The teacher was watching them with a blank stare. "Well some thing is wrong with Kakashi sensei!"

* * *

"Did you kill a woman named Rin?"

* * *

Naruto looked back at her. "What is it?"

"I don't know. We have to get back there." She pulled him on.

He stole a quick glance up at the window. Iruka had vanished.


	4. Truth

OK, you asked for more and so here is more! This chapter concludes **part one**. I'm not sure how many parts I'll have in all, but it should be at least five. I'm going to take the opportunity here to go and fix up the first three chapters and iron them all back out. While it may take me some extra time to update again rest assured i WILL update again.

And remember reviews are like crack to me, BUT they are also my tools. if you see any mistakes in spelling or grammar LET ME KNOW! This writing is a learning process and you all can be my teacher. To me there is no such thing as a bad review, just a review that lets me know what's wrong according to that person.

Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter Four: Truth

_Flash back: 14 hours before the start of the story: Naruto's street_

Naruto blinked back the sun as he stepped out his front door. The sky was bright and the air was clear. Soft white clouds sailed high over the tree tops like massive ships on a clear calm ocean. One massive white sky ship rolled up to the sun, shading the world below. Naruto glanced back down to the streets. People were every where: talking, laughing and going about there lives merrily.

His stomach growled bitterly.

Stepping forward he glared out at the overly bright streets and chipper faces. During his last mission he'd been away log enough for most of his food to spoil so if he wanted breakfast he would have to go find it some where out on the streets. Raman crossed his mind for a moment, but he was trying to eat a more balanced diet now. Both Sakura and Kakashi had made a considerable effort to convince him to vary his diet and better his eating habits. If it meant some thing to his team then it meant some thing to him.

Besides, with the way he felt this morning he knew he had to focus more on being healthy than happy.

He descended the long stair case from his home and stepped on to the street. Smells were wafting through the sir from every corner of the blithe village. One smell, the luring aroma of Tamagoyaki caught his attention and he followed it. After he rounded a pleasant corner the people seemed a little less jolly. They were slower and more densely packed. He walked for another half a block and the upbeat energy was fading. The people were gathering together, some were whispering amongst them selves, while others shook their heads. Some thing was so very dearly wrong he could almost taste it.

Some one was crying. . .

Sobbing.

Naruto pressed him self between the discontent throng and the building walls. He inched his way past faces that looked more and more upset until the whole crowd ended. The street was clear and void of any one except two green clad shinobi.

The huge sky ship passed the sun and the world was drenched in light.

Lee was clinging to Guy fiercely, sobbing in to the older man's chest for all he was worth. While Lee's behavior was not uncommon Might Guy's silence in reply was. The taller sensei was still as stone. Naruto squinted past the near blinding light to gage Guy's reaction, but his face was shaded, darkened. Glancing back around for any clue to the situation all Naruto could see was a throng of scorn and silence. Turning back to Guy and Lee he took a step forward, away from the masses.

The moment his foot fell to the pavement Guy's head snapped up. He glared around as if daring any one to move. The whole crowd stepped back, some fled. Naruto stepped forward unwilling to be chased off by the eccentric Sensei's venomous look. He crossed half the distance when Guy spotted him. They locked eyes and for a moment all Naruto could see was malevolence. He froze in his tracks, unprepared for the look from some one who was never beyond giddy with joy.

"Guy?"

Recognition registered and the glare fell away. A look of despondence replaced it.

"Naruto."

Lee looked up and gasped for air trying to quiet him self. "Na-naru. . ." He couldn't hold back the tears and buried his head in Guy's chest. Guy looked down and rubbed soothing circles in the youth's back.

Hurrying up to them Naruto studied Lee for a moment before again searching Guy's face. "What happened?"

Guy looked over at Naruto and took a breath. "It's. . . We . . ."

"GUY SENSEI!" Naruto and Guy looked down the street where the people were making way. Ten-Ten was standing, her brown hair loose from it's twin bun braids, hanging in loose curls down over her face and shoulders. He haulted for a moment, taking the sight in, before running up to the three of them. "Tell me it's not TRUE!"

Lee looked up in desperation at Guy. "Please. . ."

Again Guy sighed. "All I know is that every thing will be OK." He placed a gentle hand on Lee's head and gave Ten-Ten a soft smile. "Why don't you take Lee to my place? I'll be there a couple of minutes after you and we can talk." He unwrapped the youth's arms from around his middle.

Ten-Ten hesitated before taking Lee's wrist. "OK." She gave him a small tug and he yielded, blinded by his tears.

Naruto watched as they both walked away in silence. Lee stumbled a little and Ten ten pulled him close, guiding him back through the people. There was a long moment of silence before Guy turned his attention down.

"What is this all ab....?" Naruto's stomach interrupted loudly.

"Why don't you and I get some thing to eat?" Guy offered. Naruto nodded and followed the lone teacher quietly. They ducked in to the first raman shop the came too.

As Naruto took his seat Guy glanced back out in to the light. People were returning to their activities.

"Did some thing happen?"

"Yes, but it's like I just said, every thing will be OK." He sat down and picked up a menu with little interest. "I'm glad you came along when you did, Naruto. I have some thing to ask you." He looked down and Naruto felt like he was being examined.

"What?"

"Some thing troubles you, my youthful friend." He leaned closer to study Naruto's face. "You look like you are having trouble sleeping." Guy observed kindly. "Is there any way I can help you?"

"I doubt it." Naruto sighed and rubbed his face in his hands.

"Are you sure? You do not look like the Naruto I know."

"Ill be all right, Sensei." He gave Guy a weak smile. "Was that what you wanted to ask me?"

"No, but perhaps now is not the time." He set the menu down. "You know if you are having a problem you can speak to me at any time."

"Thanks but I doubt you can help me."

"What about Kakashi?"

Naruto looked down at his own menu. "I don't want to bother him while he's in the hospital." He felt Guy's hand rest on his back. "A Sensei's life is to teach and protect his students. If some thing is wrong with one of his or her students the Sensei will feel it a thousand times over." Naruto looked up in to the normaly jolly face. Guy looked down at him with a deep sorrow. "To keep Kakashi in the dark about a problem, if the problem could do you or some one else damage, will only hurt him in the end. He is in the hospital because he protected you."

Naruto looked down at the menu. "I know."

"Some thing is troubling you, Naruto, I can see it in your eyes."

"I could say the same for you."

Guy nodded. "But what has happened has happened." He closed his eyes. "I could not see what was in front of me because he hid it so well." Opening his eyes again Guy turned his full attention on Naruto. "If some thing is wrong I _beg you_, talk to Kakashi."

". . . Guy Sensei. . ."

"He would die for you."

". . . I know. . ."

* * *

_Present day_

"Did you kill a woman named Rin?" Tsunade pressed.

Kakashi lowered his head and twisted the sheets in to knots. "I killed an ANBU woman ."

"Did you know her?"

He was quiet for a long time, still sucking air in little gasps. Finally in a whisper he replied, "She did not tell me her name."

Tsunade crossed her arms and shifted against the closed door. "Some thing about that mission has some people asking questions about you. If there is any thing about that mission you left out of your report then I need to know."

"There is nothing left out that would make any difference one way or another regarding the safety of the village." He looked up, exhausted. "My only concern then, as it is now, the well-being of the Leaf."

He was completely depleted. Tsunade considered grilling him further, but decided against it. He was clearly suffering from some thing beyond her knowledge that was unnerving him to the point of panic. Interrogating him while his mind was unhinged may do far more damage than was reasonable, even considering the gravity of the information she needed. Relenting she sighed and chewed the tip of her thumb for a moment. "OK. I may question you again on this latter."

He gave a weak nod and finally started to relax. A sudden loud knock made him Jump and once more he started to shiver, but it was not violent like it had been before. Tsunade stepped away from the door and opened it, trying not to worry at her thumb. Both Sakura and Naruto stood before her with tense expressions. Naruto's brows scrunched down and he brushed past both women to get to the bed.

"Kakashi Sensei!"

Kakashi looked up at him and let out a sigh. "Naruto."

Tsunade stood back and watched the bloond keenly as he leaned close to Kakshi. "What did you do?!" He took Kakashi's shoulders in hand and stared in to the dull duel coloured eyes. "Is that _blood_?"

* * *

Iruka closed the Hokage's door behind him and stepped slowly out in to the halls. People looked at him only for a moment before hurrying off. He winced and pressed his palm to his throbbing head. No one would look in to his eyes.

He strode forward, still rubbing his head, and passed the window. In the shimmering glass he caught his reflection. While it felt like he was grimacing in pain it looked like he was grinning ear to ear.

* * *

Tsunade stepped closer and looked in to the pale teacher's face. Roughly she cupped his chin in her hand and pulled his head up to examine him. Both eyes were blood shot, buy now the sharingan eye, black and glassy, was oozing blood.

With her hand still holding Kakashi she frowned and asked, "Did you use the sharingan last night?"

His face shifted from passive exhaustion to defiance. She gripped his chin a little harder as Iruka's consernes echoed once more in her mind. "Did you?" His brow lowered, but he did not answer. She dropped his chin and thrust her hands to her hips. Turning Tsunade glared down at Naruto. "Were you hear last night? Yes or no!"

"Ye-yeah. . ." He stammered. "But I was asleep. I didn't _see_ any thing."

Kakashi was reaching up and wiping the blood from the corner of his eye. naruto was glancing at him then back up at her. Every thing screamed danger and all of her internal alarms were blaring. She couldn't forget Iruka's inraged expression or his findings. The paper work ninja was no one to become angry. The reasons were clear, the danger seemed to be very real. Tsunade gleared down at Naruto.

"Why were you here last night?"

Naruto glanced at Kakashi who gave him a silencing stare while wiping away more blood. There was a long, defiant, silence that filled the room like a choking mist.

Sakura, still standing back in the door way, suddenly laughed humourlessly. "Didn't Kakashi sense tell you?"

Tsunade glanced back over her shoulder. "Tell me _what_?"

"Naruto was under the impression Kakashi would be let out today or tomorrow and Kakashi had promised to train him some more!" She grinned and walked up to her fellow team mates. "You and I both know how eager this idiot is to train. Right?" She slapped Naruto in the arm. The Blond grinned, but it did not reach his eyes.

Ttsunade frowned and turned her attention back on Kakashi. "Training?" He looked up at her and for a moment there was a flash of danger in his good eye, then he smiled.

"Ah! I was going to show Naruto how to improve his Rasangan." All three team mates shared the forced grin.

Tsunade let her hands drop to her sides. With all of the alarms still screaming in the back of her mind she could not, and would not, let it end there. But with the team all putting up a front together there was little she could do now. "Fine." She thrust a finger at Sakura. "You keep an eye on them. Inform me if there is anything I need to know."

Her grin sliped ever so slightly, but she nodded. "Yes ma'am!"

* * *

A figure leered out from the Hokage tower's shadowed halls, watching Iruka as he passed by.

"Do you think he made the point clear to the Hokage?" A second figure asked in harsh whisper.

"I think he made it very clear." The first figure replied. "But we should enact operation Wolf any way."

"Do you think that's necessary."

Iruka stopped in his tracks and braced him self against the wall for a moment looking pained.

"I do."

* * *

_Flash back: 13 and 1/3 hours before the start of the story: Raman shop on Naruto's street_

They ate in silence, neither daring to speak about the matters that were consuming them. At length Guy finished and stet his bowl aside. "I should find my students. Ten-Ten and Lee need me." He stood and let his hand rest on Naruto's back again.

"Remember what I said."

"I will."

"Good." Guy dropped enough money on the counter for both of them and ducked out. It was many minutes latter Naruto realized no one had breathed a word about Neji.

* * *

_Present day_

As Tsunade marched away, casting a warning look to Sakura, Kakashi let out a breath he had been holding. The Hokage didn't believe him. He never expected she would. But the truth about Naruto...

About that day...

For a moment all he could do was sit, trying to recover his oxygen supply, while the room started to spin around him. Just out of his field of vision his two students were hovering close, but not interrupting his moment's meditation. Once he felt settled with is breathing he looked over at them. They'd both grown so quickly.

Sakura was clutching a clip board to her chest, confusion and fear written over her face. She'd sensed that they needed time, and she'd managed to buy that for them, even though she didn't know why. She'd chosen her team over her position as the Hokage's aid. Maybe all the lessons he'd hammered in to them about those who care about their companions had sunken in after all.

He took a slow calming breath and looked Naruto over. While the youth looked far more rested he did not look well. He was staring back with a mix of anger and concern. Slowly his hands rose from hanging lax to fists. "Kakashi, what did you do?"

Kakashi cast a look at Sakura. She frowned and looked away. "I should go check on some other patients." She let the clip board fall to her side and walked away. "I'll be back in an hour to look in you you both." Her eyes held meaning in them, she'd come for an explanation. Kakashi wondered if it was safe to tell her every thing that had happened. She'd bout them time, yes, but she still answered to Tsunade.

"We'll be here." Kakashi gave her a small nod.

She forced a fleeting smile before exiting the room, closing the door behind her.

"Kakashi. . ."

He held up a hand, silencing the youth. "The fox is using your chakra."

"What?"

"While you were sleeping he used your chakra to form the cloak, not his."

Naruto let his hands go lax and sat back on the other bed. "So what does that mean?"

"It means we have less time than we need." He closed his eyes and leaned back. The room was spinning just a little faster now. "I managed to interrupt the cloak by weaving my own chakra in to yours and disrupting his."

"I thought you used all of your chakra up." A strange energy flowed though the youth's voice. Kakashi opened his eyes and rolled his head on the pillow to look at his frazzled student.

"I regained a little."

Naruto shifted, troubled and disturbed looking. "You did this with the sharangan?"

"Yes."

Naruto looked angry and hurt. "You used it all up again didn't you!?"

"Yes." Kakashi closed his eyes. The night and the impromptu interrogation had sapped every thing he had regained right back out of him. Even the pain seemed to be depleted. "But I promised. . ."

"That's not your ninja way." Naruto half growled. It's mine."

Giving one last effort to open his eyes Kakashi turned and smiled. "But, Naruto, I am the Copy-Cat ninja. I do what others do if I see it works for them. That is _MY_ ninja way." He dropped his head back and sighed. He couldn't even feel his limbs any more.

After a moment, just between being awake and asleep, he felt the covers being pulled back over him and a warm strong hand on his shoulder. "No, your ninja way is to protect the ones you care for."

That was the truth.

* * *

As I said before this is the end of part one. I'll be fixing up my other chapters so do let me know if you see any mistakes with them, or this new one! Thank you!


	5. Trust

Well, here is the next chapter! I know a lot of you have been waiting for it, but I was again having trouble writing it and getting the right feelings to happen. Also I wanted to make sure I didn't have to go back and to a TON of editing.

Thanks every one for the reviews you've left me! With out those I may have not gotten this chapter done at all!

* * *

**Trust**

_I had two students. One was my precious medical ninja who loved even after she had been hated, cared even after she had been rejected, hoped even after she had been broken. She was soft and warm and sweet. I would have died to keep her just as she was. _

_She has joined the medical staff and Konoha Hokage tower and cries every night over the shattered bodies she can not save. I have failed to protect her. _

_I have one last student. When she cries he stands next to her, trying to do the job I could not. I do not know if he can save her._

_Minato- Third Grate Shinobi World War_

* * *

Tsunade sat straight in her chair as the smoke and mist cleared from her sunny office room. Standing straight at attention before her, like a carving, was the ANBU agent Raccoon. He gave Tsunade a measured nod. "You wished to speak with me?"

"Yes, I may have a mission and an assignment for you." She stood from her chair. "You may take off your mask, this will not be an ANBU mission."

Slowly he reached up and pulled the mask free. Dark brown eyes gazed passively at her. He neither smiled nor frowned, but kept his face stoic and unreadable instead. "Yes, ma'am."

Stepping past her desk she stood in front of him to look him over slowly. He was still as a statue. "You were a member of Kakashi's ANBU team, correct?"

A ghost of a smile crossed his face. "That is correct."

* * *

Kakashi opened his eyes and let his mind roll over and assess his over all condition. He didn't feel rested despite the sleep he'd gotten, and the pain was still flowing thickly through his veins. The pain was no longer agony, though, and he took a moment to enjoy the ability to take in a full breath of air free from razor edged spasms. Fresh summer air drifted in from the sunny window, brining in the sent of the street below. Some how the fresh lively sent and the sun warmed him and he hoped today things would finally start to go better for his team.

His team had taken quite the battering this time around. While no one on his team had been seriously hurt or killed - the old sand woman's death aside- he'd lost sight of Sakura. She'd been all right, and he trusted she could heal her self if she had too, but some thing tugged at the back of his mind like remorse. He wasn't sure if the feeling had been there before, but now as he thought about his pink haired student he wondered if maybe he should have done some thing different. But then, as always, his attention had been on Naruto. His young blond student had demanded so much more attention than Sakura, now more than ever.

Sitting up carefully he looked over to the other bed. Half sitting, half slumped over, Naruto was holding _Come Come Paradise_ in one hand, a red pen in the other. Kakashi watched him as he started to nod off, before shaking him self awake. He had dark rings under his eyes and a pale cast to his face.

"Oi, Pervy sage..." He mumbled. "Stop starting your sentences with freaking _prepositions_!" He attacked the page with the red pen.

For a moment three feelings crashed through Kakashi's mind. The first was a touch of panic that Naruto was not only reading, but _MARKING_ his book, it passed when he saw the cover was new and glossy- obviously not his. The second feeling was on top of that in a flash. It was some thing like regret, only with a touch more remorse than guilt, and it came directly from seeing Naruto looking so very worn out. What ever rest he'd gotten while Kakashi had watched over him had been badly undone. This lead to the last feeling. It was undefinable, but not all together unfamiliar. It was the same feeling he'd had when ever some one had the intent to kill one of his team mates in the past. This last feeling came as a sudden torrential flood and soaked every mental fiber he had. The first two feelings were washed completely way from his thoughts in an instant causing him to flinch.

The movement made the bed squeak and Naruto looked up. For a moment his face was twisted in a look of exhaustion and despair. Then he lifted the pen off the paper and shut the book with a sudden broad grin. "Kakashi Sensei! You're awake!"

"I suppose I am." The feeling was ebbing, but would not dry up completely.

Setting the book aside Naruto slid off the bed and rushed over. "How are you feeling?" Kakashi watched as Naruto's hand shot out and landed on his forehead. He held it there before letting out a sigh. "The fever is gone. Thank goodness! I was so worried about you there for a while." Relief was clearly visible in his weary blue eyes.

This caught Kakashi off guard. Naruto had never shown any level of concern for his health before. The warm hand was being pulled away but those tired eyes were studying him keenly. Not knowing how to react to this new level of concern from the blond Kakashi slammed a fake smile on to his face.

"Were you really worried about me this time?" As soon as the words slipped out he wished he'd never spoken them. Naruto's face fell from concern to some thing else entirely. He went from happy relief to a sudden form of blank hollowness that slowly dropped to a frown.

"Don't...don't you _ever_ do some thing so stupid again." He said horsely. Kakashi could see tears welling up in his eyes. "We could have lost you for real this time."

The fake smile Kakashi had thrown in place fell. Except for the ache in his back and legs he felt fine. He was depleted of chakra of course, but in good heath other wise. He wondered if Naruto's reaction was a result of the fox tormenting him rather than actual events, because he just didn't fell like he'd almost died. "And just what stupid thing did I do?" He asked as casually as he could.

Naruto's eyes grew darker. "You don't remember, do you?"

* * *

"I will not order you on the mission." Tsunade's voice was calm, yet cool.

His thin smile vanished. "I am at the service of the leaf. If you wish me to do some thing, order me to do it."

"It's not that simple." She stepped back and leaned against her desk with a sigh. "What I am about to say never leaves this room."

"I have more secrets than scars, lady Hokage."

She nodded at that. The ANBU black ops either kept quiet or died. That was their first rule. "We both know that the ANBU branch known as Root - ordered to disband by the Third - is still in existence and active."

"Yes."

"What we do not know is exactly who Root is working for, how it gets it's orders, who is among it's members, or what it's goal is. Shimura Danzo has been interrogated over and over again my Ibiki on the subject. Ibiki's findings are that Danzo knows nothing."

"I have seen Ibiki's work, he is flawless in deducing if a man is telling a lie or not." His voice, while calm, held a small measure of awe.

"It's more than deduction." She replied.

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

Danzo smiled and gave a short bow to the two elders standing before him. "So you wish me to enact Operation Wolf."

The old woman, cracking a wrinkled wry smile, bowed in return. "We know the R**i**kaku Jinsei is working with in him, and we must act NOW before he can counter it."

Danzo half smirked. We must give the Rikaku Jinsei time to work it's self to fruition before we try to force his hand."

Both elders frowned. The elder man stepped forward. "Hatake Kakashi is vulnerable _now_. If we act now we can eliminate the only remaining threat to our plans. If we act now..."

"Then the Hokage will be come suspicious." Danzo folded his hands together. "Forgive my interruption. But I have learned of a new mission team Kakashi will be going on. They will be intercepting a spy who works for Orochimaru. Because they are a man down they will have to supplement their numbers."

"I assume you have a plan." The elder woman said.

Danzo turned slightly and looked back in to the shadows. "I have a student who can fill in permanently for Sauske."

The elders peered in to the darkness and a youth stepped forward. Ash white skin and dark straight hair framed cold black eyes. He bowed perfectly. "I am at your service."

Danzou smiled a sly smile. "This is my weapon, this is my tool. With this child we will be able to infiltrate the jinchuriki's team and then begin _Operation Wolf_." He set his hand on the boy's back. "This child has surpassed any I have seen in his age range. He has completed more A rakned missions than the both of you combined. With him working on the inside, and Iruka working from with out we will be able to eliminate Hatake Kakashi as a threat."

Both elders gave the youth a hard long look. "Does it have a name?" The woman asked at length.

"A name." Danzo looked down at the dark haired boy. "From now on you will be known as Haki Sai."

Unblinking the boy nodded slowly. "Tree 'ha', leaf 'ki'. Sai... I understand."

"Good." Looking back up to the skeptical elders Danzo folded his hands. "As for Iruka. . ."

* * *

Iruka read and reread the last two lines from his student's report. The letters were neat and well spaced, and not one word was misspelled or misused, yet none of it was making any sense to him. He rubbed his face and took a breath.

Out in the yard just beyond his classroom window he could hear his students playing. Over the noisy cheerful din Konahamaru could be heard calling out to his friends. He was moderating a play fight. Iruka lifted his face from his hands and looked out the window. Each child was busy and happy and dirty and sun light. He turned back to the report and felt a dull ache forming between his eyes.

Once more he buried his face in his hands. Konahamaru was laughing. The sound grated on Iruka's nerves.

* * *

". . . Perhaps I will speak to the teacher my self and make sure he is progressing as planed." Danzo bowed and turned from the elders.

* * *

A rubber ball hit the wall next to the window and Iruka's head snapped up. Slamming his palms violently down on the desk he stood and tossed the window open. "Be careful!" He meant to sound gentle and rebuking, but it came out as a snarl. Tempering him self he took another breath. "You almost broke the window." Despite his words sounding more calm, he felt a bubble of anger rolling up. He swallowed it and let the window slide closed. Stepping back he shook his head.

"What is _wrong_ with me?"

The children were all staring, then slowly slinking away from the window. When only Konahamaru remained, eyes questioning, Iruka tried to turn away. His translucent reflection in the window caught him first. It was smirking.

* * *

Tsunade scowled. "I suspect Root is trying to usurp the position of Hokage. For what reason I can not say, but I do know that it is a cancer of our people. One I wish to have destroyed."

"I do not see how this connects to Katake Kakashi, or his team."

"As you know Naruto is a jinchuriki. Root may wish to obtain the power of the fox as a weapon. Aside from that danger the fox in side of him has began to loosen the seal that was placed there by the fourth. It will not hold out forever."

The corners of his mouth twitched down. "The fox will return?"

Gravely she nodded. Glancing past him she looked out the window towards the roof tops of the village. "By Root, or by the ebbing of the seal it's self, we must not let that happen."

"What do you wish me to do?" He asked.

"You have the first Hokage's blood in you, you can subdue the Fox."

"I understand." He brought the tips of his fingers together and let his face relax in to a neutral expression. "I have not sealed a monster before."

"I know. I also know you can, and must, use your gift here, and now. You are to be permanently assigned to team Kakashi. Your new name will be Tanaka Yamato and you will be under the direction of Hatake Kakashi. You will be ever vigilant to suppress the Demon Fox when and where it emerges. You must not let it fall in to the hands of the enemy, Root or other wise."

He glanced down at his hands. "You said you would not order me on this mission." He looked back up with brows knit. "It sounds imperative that I join the team."

"That is your _assignment_, not the mission." She sighed and shoved off the desk. He watched her, his hands still gently folded at the finger tips, as she walked over to the window and looked over the village. "Do you trust Hatake Kakashi?"

"With my life."

"Tell me what his Ninja way is."

* * *

Kakashi looked away from the intensity of Naruto's gaze. "You shouldn't worry about me." He managed. Some thing deep down in side felt. . .

Cold.

"Why?" Naruto's voice was thick. Kakashi looked back up. "I'm not twelve any more. I'm not your little student. You don't have to protect me like that."

"Yes I do." He replied before he could sensor him self. Naruto's eyes dropped and he stepped back.

"You just don't get it, do you?" He shook his head sadly. "I don't want you to save my life." He looked back up with a determined look. "I want you to be safe. What I want from you is. . ." He struggled for a moment. "If some thing happened to you because of me I couldn't live with that. Maybe before. . . before Sauske. But not now. I need you, Kakashi, but not as my shield."

Kakashi closed his eyes and sighed. "Narruto. . ."

"I am _**not**_ done."

He felt the blond draw close. Opening his eyes he looked up into an expression of what he could only guess was pain and guilt. He took Kakashi's shoulders once more in his hands and cemented a fierce gaze on to his face. "You used all of your chakra trying to fight that fox. All. Of. It. Your body reacted like it was poisoned or some thing and for a couple of minutes no one knew if you were going to wake up again. Your heart stopped beating. Do you know what happened after that?"

Kakashi could only shake his head.

"That fox stopped trying to torment me because _you_ scared me more than _he_ could." His fingers tightened a little. "So if you think you can protect me by tossing your self senselessly in front of him, think again! All you will _ever_ do by sacrificing your self to that beast for my sake is make it _worse_. I'd rather die than watch some one else die in my place trying to fight my battles. Do you understand me?"

* * *

"He will protect his comrades with his life, that is his ninja way. That is why I trust him with my life. He would rather die than see the blood shed of his team." His fingers twitched slightly. "If I may be so bold as to ask, why do you ask me this?"

"Because I have a report written in his hand writing stating that he killed a member of ROOT. That member may have been a former team member of his old team, team Minato." She looked back at him with a deep frown. "And now his Mangekyo Sharingan has activated."

"I'm afraid I find this hard to believe."

"As do I. I have gone through all the reports I could find linking the Root Member to the woman named Rin. . ."

"Rin." He whispered, then blinked. "Forgive me, my lady Hokage, I did not mean to interrupt."

"He spoke of her?" She asked, turning fully towards him.

"Once." He folded his hands behind his back. "He only said he regretted not having her medical skills during one our more troublesome battles."

"But?" She pressed.

"But what?"

"You are well trained, Yamato, you would not have whispered her name were it not more than a mere passing comment."

He glanced down. "He was wounded. There were a few minutes we thought we were all going to die. He. . ." The Agent shook his head slowly.

"He what?"

Another ghost of a frown found it's way to his face. "He whispered her name and stood up."

"This has significance because?"

"It was then that he turned the battle to our favour and managed to kill the enemy. I speak not of one man, but nearly twenty. For two days afterwards he hovered near death from exhaustion and chakra depletion. It was during his second day we all suspected he may die. But. . ."

"But." She pressed again.

The frown faded and a smile, a true smile, spread slowly. "I whispered her name to him."

Tsunade's eyebrow quirked. "Then what happened?"

"He lived." He said simply.

Tsunade was silent for a long moment. "The mission, should you chose to accept it, is to discover how he activated the Mangekyo Sharingan. I asked him about the incident with the Root Member, but he denied asking her her name, there fore he could not answer who it was he killed. While not a lie I believe he may be hiding truth from me. He has not hidden any thing from me before and up till now I have trusted him."

"Why not order me to take this mission?" He asked. "If I may be so bold."

"Because if the answer is not favourable I will ask you to kill him."

* * *

Iruka sank down in to his chair completely transfixed by the face in the window. It had clear cold eyes and a strong frigid smile. He blinked and rubbed his face, trying to erase that horrible look he was seeing in him self. When he looked back again the reflection was a little more honest looking. It looked pained and tired and sore. It looked like he felt, like there was a head ache forming and not enough sleep to subdue it.

He sighed and sagged where he was, a little relieved he looked so bad in the window. A mental paradox, yes, but an honest one. He looked bad, and that made him feel better.

Maybe his mind was finally slipping after all of the student pranks he'd endured over the years.

There was a knock at the door and his head ache doubled instantly at the sound. Despite the new throbbing he smiled. "Come in." His voice sounded nice and that was good.

The door opened and the well bandaged figure stepped in. Iruka stifled a gasp. "Danzo."

The older man smiled gently. "I know this is unexpected, but I have good reasons to be here, Umino-kohai."

"Forgive me, Shimura-san." Iruka stood and gave a short bow. The movement caused him even more pain, but he refused to let it show. "Can I help you?"

"Yes." He stepped in and approached the desk. "I saw two of your students squabbling in the street the other day. I stopped the fight, naturally, but I'm afraid I could not help them with the need to usurp each other. I wrote up a report and turned it in, but I never heard if you got it."

"No, I don't think I did." Iruka glanced out the window and saw the children had returned to their play. "Do you know who they were?"

"I'm sorry, but I do not know the names of your students."

Iruka frowned as he studied the man before him. "I'm sorry they have disturbed you."

"Think nothing for my sake, Iruka, but think of the children." The way he spoke, so at ease, and with such a strong frigid smile, sent a chill down Iruka's spine.

"How should I think of my children?" He asked.

"It's a shame, one child seemed so gentle." He turned towards the window. "The other had a horrible evil look in his eyes. I did not expect the fight to be so loud, it seemed like the little gentle one was sure to loose. But he kept fighting."

Iruka followed his gaze. His reflection was again smiling a chilling smile. "Do you know what they looked like?" Iruka asked numbly.

"I didn't get to see the mean one well, but the kind student..."

At the pause Iruka looked up at Danzo. Danzo looked down with pity written on his ragged face. "He looked a little lost."

The pain flared and Iruka had to sniffle a gasp. "Lost?"

* * *

"I do." He reached up and pulled Naruto's hands down and held them back. "You must understand some thing as well. You belong to the future generation. It's my job too. . ."

He started to shake his head 'no'. "It's not!"

"It is." He let the hands go and Naruto pulled back, frowning deeply. "I promised I would protect you. But don't think it's just you. I'd do the very same thing for Sakura. For any one from the village."

"She's the one who saved you." Naruto sounded almost bitter. "Tsunade was ready to give up on you when your heart stopped, but not Sakura."

"That seems unlikely." He said, hoping that Naruto's nightmares had tainted how he'd viewed the events. "Did you tell her about your problem?" He asked, changing the subject.

"No. She questioned me over and over. She wanted me to tell her why I wouldn't leave your side, but I didn't say any thing to her."

"Why?" Kakashi demanded softly. "She is the Hokage. She needs to know these things."

Naruto glanced away, looking torn and a angry. "I think she wanted you to die."

* * *

"K. . .kill him?" His eyes widened in shock, temporarily stunned in to expressing an emotion. "Why?"

She gave him a cold look. "One of the reports I have read concerning Root is that it may be brainwashing members of Shinobi from Konoka. Kakashi has never hidden the truth from me before, but when I questioned him he was clearly hiding some thing from me. After pressing further I suspect that all of team seven is hiding some thing. I do not know what it is at this point, but I do know it has some thing to do with the fox." Her eyes darkened slightly. "Your mission is to dig for the truth."

"Suppose he has become a double agent, and he is influencing his team to turn as well, what will you do with the team as a whole?"

"You will have to kill both Kakashi, and Sakura. Naruto's rage will undoubtedly invoke the wrath of the fox. I will need your help stopping it."

* * *

Danzo's smile shifted in to some thing unreadable. "Perhaps now is not a good time." He tilted his head and Iruka felt a shift in his chakra. "You look a little...."

"Lost." Iruka whispered. The flair of pain he felt sent bolts of white hot agony through his mind, but it was gone as quickly as it came. He closed his eyes and sank down in to the chair. "Forgive me, but I seem to have a head ache."

"You do." Danzo's expression shifted again in to a smile before he changed it to a look of gentle worry. "Perhaps you are working to hard. You have two jobs now."

"Yes." It was hard to listen, hard to think. Hard to concentrate.

"You know I think that weaker student will not last long. No matter how hard he fights against the rage of the other. What do you think?"

Iruka closed his eyes and shook his head 'no'.

Danzo leaned a closer and spoke softly. "The strongest have to surface in this cruel world to survive, Iruka. Only the strongest survive. There is no room for the meek."

"No."

"Don't try to fight it, Iruka. Let the strong one win." His words were whispered in his ear.

"Don't. . ."

"Don't fight the strong one." His words were like silk.

* * *

The ANBU agent stared at her for a long moment. "You will excuse me if I have thoughts towards the pure absurdity to that line of reasoning."

She smiled a sad smile. "You are excused." Folding her arms she glanced down. "I know this sounds like an impossibility. I know you do not think this could ever happen to one of our most loyal shinobi."

"Never."

"There was a time I believed that Orochimaru would always love and protect me. I thought that he would die defending Konoha."

Yamato's eyes darkened. "Kakashi is not like him. Orochimaru had cruel tendencies from the very beginning."

She shifted and, looking out the window, she shook her head softly. "No. There was a time when I loved him and he loved me. He would have done any thing to protect my little brother. When my brother died some thing in him changed. Pain causes anger and anger leads to hatred. Hatred destroys love, and allows us to sever our bonds." Looking back she straightened and stepped up to him. "How deeply did he love Rin? Deep enough to die for her?"

"Deep enough to live for her."

* * *

"I'm sure you are mistaken, Naruto." Kakashi offered a smile, despite the mask. "She would not wish me to die."

Naruto looked back at Kakashi and glared. "You don't know what happened. You weren't really there."

"So tell me what happened."

* * *

Danzo smiled as he looked down on the two elders sitting before him.

"Well?"

"The Rikaku Jinsei is working. We should have the results we wanted in a matter of days, if not, hours."

Both elders smiled wickedly.

* * *

"Root feeds on a person's weakness, any weakness." Tsunady said flatly. "We _can not_ let Root know how desperately we are trying to trace them and dig them out. I am giving you the choice because what I'm asking you to do will cause this village pain. Kakashi is well liked. He is a hero to many people. You will be shamed and dishonored by his apparent murder. I may have to execute you for the act to protect Konoha from Root knowing the truth. You will be seen as a murder."

He brought his hands forward and rubbed the palms together in slow, methodical, circles. "I will take the mission. But I have one request."

"What would you like?"

"That if I must kill Kakashi I will be allowed to explain my actions to him."

"That may jeopardise your task."

He took a breath and looked up in to her eyes. "He has shielded me with is own body time and time again, taking blows meant to kill me. I owe him my life and. . ."

"And?"

* * *

Naruto scoffed softly and stepped back to the bed. He sank down and gazed at the floor. "It's like I said, you were dieing, _dead_, Tsunade gave up on you. Sakura and I wouldn't."

"I don't feel like I was almost dead." Kakashi said, more to him self than to the blond.

"Your heart stopped beating, you weren't breathing." Naruto replied quietly. He looked back up at him with deep sad eyes. "All I wanted was for you to wake me up if I had a nightmare, not fight my battles for me."

Kakashi turned away from his student's mournful gaze. "Your battles _are_ my battles, Naruto."

* * *

"No matter who he aligns him self too, Root or other wise, he will fight to the death to protect his two students. I may be able to use that against him."


	6. Never say Never

Part two: Fire and Sea

Chapter Six: Never say Never

* * *

_Fate is no longer some thing I believe in. Fate is a cruel and twisted word men use to justify what happens to them. If fate had any thing to do with our lives then we would have come to nirvana long, long ago, when the first conflict forged it's first hero._

_Jiariaya-sensei told me he was a part of a prophecy, that he would teach the man who would bring an end to all wars. He told me to believe in the future. He asked me if I was that man._

_How can I save the world when I can not save my last student?_

_Minato- Third Grate Shinobi World War_

* * *

Standing tall and stoic Sakura and Naruto faced the quiet stern eyes of Tsunade. They had been called in to her office and presented the mission papers like criminals receiving there sentences.

"Kakashi Hatake is not well enough to go with you, and will not be well enough to go with you in the time frame provided by Sasori."

The two young ninja took the papers stiffly. Both could still recall the night before, the night when there sense was on the very edge of death, and the Hokage before them had seemingly simply given up.

"Should you find information on Sauske Uchiha you will remember you are first loyal to Konoha."

"Yes ma'am." Sakura said flatly.

Naruto took a breath and let it our slowly. Sleep, even after all Kakshi had done for him, was still as elusive as his former team mate. He'd busied him self with any thing he could to keep from drifting off until he was so exhausted he'd pass out and sleep dreamless for an hour or two. He'd done any thing and every thing, even correcting Jiaraiya's new _Come Come Tactics_ overly zealous second draft. He'd edited the first draft, but found the pervy-sage had re written several chapters. The whole thing was a mess.

". . . with you both."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

Tsunade glared at him. "Did you catch any of that?"

He shook his head, to tired to care if it made him look like a fool or not. The look Tsunade shot him was icy. "I said you will have two new team members asinged to accompany you."

"Oh." Was all he could manage. From some where deep down in side he could feel a restless bubble of malevolence rising. He swallowed as bile crawled up his throat. "Who?"

Tsunade's fixed cold stare pulled him more to attention and he realized Sakura was staring at him as well. He shifted uncomfortably and glanced over at his team mate. "What?"

"Are you. . ." She frowned. "We are going to find out information about Sauske." She leaned a little closer to him, scrutinizing. "Doesn't that excite you?"

Her proximity, in the past, would have made him lean away. Now, all he could do was glare back at her. "Oh, yeah, you have no idea." He raised a fist and gave it a little shake. "Whoo-hoo, lets go find that basted."

Some thing SLAMED down hard next to him and he turned to see Tsunade's fist on the desk. "I've had it! What in the _HELL_ is _WRONG_ with you!?"

Naruto blinked and for a moment he was tempted to tell her. The malevolence was reshaping in to some thing akin to panic, but he wasn't sure if it was his panic or not. If he told her he wondered what she'd do. With the seal almost torn to ragged tatters after the last week's worth of demon activity he supposed she'd have him banned from missions permanently. Or worse, locked up like the fox him self. Old childhood fears goaded him in to silence for a moment longer. He was to tired to think up a good lie.

To his eminence relief Sakura spoke up. "We have been up with Kakashi all night. I got rest, Lady Tsunade, Naruto hasn't."

Naruto knew, KNEW, she wasn't buying it. The first time they met he'd half killed him self to win her bet, and still had enough energy left over to feel all joyful and proud of him self. Even now he could feel her necklace around his neck from that time not so very long ago. With out thinking he reached up and touched it. "I'm worried about him." He mumbled, a sorry attempt to further Sakura's claims and hopefully convince the Hokage.

Her expression changed, slightly, from angry to some thing a little more sad. She must have believed him because her fist unballed and she leaned back. She folded her arms over her chest and looked away, out the window. "You care to much about people, Naruto." Her words were soft, like velvet, but cold, like ice.

The panic shifted with in him and he felt some thing he felt over and over again sense he'd helped save Gaara. . .

"Maybe you don't care _enough_."

. . . scathing anger.

"Because what you did the other night, I don't know if I can forgive you for that." He played with the gem at the end of the chain. "You are here to _protect_ the people of the village."

She returned her gaze to him. It was hollow and hard and angry and full all at the same moment. It was the same look she'd given him the day before. Only deeper some how. His foggy mind drifted back to those horrible hours that were still all to fresh in his memory.

* * *

_Flash back_

With a book open in his lap and a red pen in his hand Naruto stared down at the pages before him and read the print carefully.

_'Except we come home as outcasts, though we will still be heroes, we should not fear the people we love.'_

He rubbed his face with both hands. "Dear Izanagi, what are you DOING you grammar pervert?" He let his face go and attacked the scrap of a sentence with his red pen.

_'We should not fear the ones we love, even if we are outcasts, because we will still be heroes.'_

He sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. Becoming a Hokage and protecting the ones he loved, yes, he could agree to that. Training under a perverted Sannin for two years? Perfectly easy. Beta reading the scrawl of a man who had even lower grades in school than he had?

"I hate you old man." He lifted his head and stared down at the book.

He'd almost rather try to sleep.

At least it wasn't porn as people were so eager to declare, that would have been unbearable to edit, or read for that matter. Jiariaya may have been a perverted old man, but he was lousy in his love life and serous about writing books. He was smart enough to keep his writing just saucy enough to keep people wanting more, with out making them want to throw up by relating his own sorry excuse for bedroom tactics. It was how he made the better part of his money, after all. Most of his missions were suicide missions, and no honest government could justly pay a man to get him self killed on it's behalf. So from his books he was, by all accounts, a very rich man. A man who was adored by millions who read this romance drivel.

Including his number one fan, Kakashi.

Turning his head Naruto studied the number one fan currently sleeping on the other bed. He'd been slowly loosing color in his skin for the last hour and his breathing was becoming more and more harsh. Now, under the blazing beams of the sun, Naruto could see his skin was almost gray. He was also starting to shiver.

Worry formed like a cold knot in his gut and he shoved the book aside. Standing he padded softly over to the bed and stroked back a lock of that messy gray hair. It stuck to his forehead, glued down by a thin sheet of sweat. Even though Kakashi was sweating he was cold and clamy to the touch.

Naruto worried at his lower lip before pressing his fingers to Kakashi's neck. His medical knowledge was slim at best, but he'd been taught just enough to asses some one on the battle field. Under the gentle touch he could feel the heart beat and counted the strokes. It was fast and weak.

Turning his attention away from the older man's hear he listened to the ragged breaths that were coming in soft gasps. He breathing was fast and shallow, like the heart beat.

"You're in shock." He whispered. For a moment the fact that he understood what he was seeing failed to register in his mind. A moment ago he'd thought the man to be just sleeping. Now - his eyes widened in fear - he realised Kakashi was in deep trouble. For a moment he was torn between going for help and sticking right where he was. He'd been taught that in this state a human body, ninja or not, was critically ill and needed to be treated _**NOW**_. If he left he was afraid, so very afraid. . . He shook his head.

"Oh no, you are NOT going to die on me!"

His hands moved with out thought and singed for a clone. This too was done before he could consciously recognize the knowledge of what was happening. He was working on instinct because his mind was becoming dull from his lack of sleep; paralysed from fear. Instinct was all he had to go on now.

Instinct honed from training with the perverted old sannin.

The clone was gone with out orders, taring through the door and in to the halls in a flash. His hands were still clasped in the last sign as the door slammed shut. The loud noise must have gotten through to Kakashi because he shuddered hard and started to pant. The sheen of sweat seemed to suddenly double and his chest heaved violently with the effort to draw in air.

Naruto let his hands untangle them selves as he reached up to touch one shaking shoulder. It occurred to him that the mask may be hindering his breathing, but he refused to pull it off now. Maybe... maybe if there was no other way... but not now.

"Take it easy, you are safe."

Kakashi didn't respond so Naruto settled for trying to just be there, with him, to comfort his teacher.

"It's going to be OK, I promise."

As the seconds turned to a full minute of anxious worry Naruto realised he could actually see Kakashi's skin loosing the last of it's color. He was debating on sending out another clone when The jonin suddenly shuddered again and his eyes fluttered open. With a thick growl he tried to sit up.

"Whoa, Kakashi, easy!" Naruto grabbed him and pushed him back down. He was surprisingly strong despite his body's rapid deterioration. "Stay where you are."

"I need. . ." He rasped and screwed his eyes shut with a grunt. ". . . run . . . they. . . don't go there. . ." Once more he tried to sit up in his delirium.

"Shh Shh." Naruto held him down as he started to thrash weekly. "Calm down, it's OK, you are safe, _safe_."

Kakashi stilled and his eyes opened again, there was a terrible anguish in them. ". . . gone . . ." The word came out weakly in a sickly keening whine.

"What's gone?" Naruto asked gently.

Instead of replying he tried to pull away quickly. The effort proved to much and he fell limp, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

"Kakashi?" Under sloppy white hair his glassy eyes slid shut and he let out one harsh rattling breath. Then he fell deathly still, so still even the trembling stopped. "KAKASHI!" Naruto gave him a soft shake, but there was no response. He stood, mouth gaping, looking down at the ashen figure in his grasp, trying to push down the panic threatening to explode through him. "No, nonononono.... Don't you even... don't you DARE die on me!"

The door slammed open and he felt his clone disintegrate. He didn't have to look up to see who had come, he knew both Sakura and Tsunade where there. They could save him. They _had to_ save him.

"Help him!" He was being pulled back by soft warm hands. Shizune.

"Come over here." Tsunade's aid said softly.

"He's dead, HELP HIM!" Panic flooded him and his vision swam.

"Calm down!" Tsunade snapped as she walked up to the bed. Sharp blue eyes scanned the prone figure. Quickly she set both hands on his chest and furrowed her brows. "I can't feel a heart beat."

Sakura laid her palms out as well and instantly fed chakra through them. "I'll try to restart it." Tsunade lifted her hands allowing Sakura to send a charge of energy through Kakashi's body. The Jounin shuddered, but did not revive.

Naruto pulled hard against Shizune's grasp, but she was shockingly unyielding. "Let me go!"

"No." She replied softly. "You'll get in the way."

Naruto ran a hand through his hair as Sakura tried to restart Kakashi's hear again. "He can't be dead." He felt his knees give out before he realized he was going to fall. Shizune dropped down with him, her soft but steely grip still on his arms. Sakura tried once more.

"It's not working."

Tsunade stared down quietly at the jounin. "Shizune, go fetch me lab kit 2-7-Green."

Naruto felt her give his arms a squeeze before she vanished. He tried to stand but his legs would not cooperate. "What's a lab kit green?"

Sakura knelt on the bed and straddled Kakashi. Cupping her hands together she started to compress his chest with burst of chakra. "Go way, Naruto."

He looked up at her, watched as she tried to force the life back in to their teacher, and shook his head. "Tell me!"

Tsunade was leaning forward, her blood red nails slipping under the mask. "A poison detection kit, now _leave_."

He managed to stand and backed towards the door. "Poison?" He ran his hands through his hair again.

"I SAID LEAVE!" Tsunage snarled. She then pulled the mask down, leaned over and forced air in to Kakashi's lungs. Naruto backed up and hit the door, glad he couldn't see his teacher's face because Sakura was in his way again.

He couldn't make his hands grab the knob. He couldn't make his feet take him any further. He couldn't obey his Hokage. ". . . no. . ."

"I have a pulse!" Sakura said grimly. "But it's unstable."

"Still not breathing, brat." She spat the last word out and leaned over again.

"Lost the pulse." Sakura returned to chest compressions.

The room went strangely quiet after that. Only the sound of the bed yielding under Sakura's chest compressions and Tsunade's breath filled the small white room. It went on like that for what seemed like ages until Shizune returned as suddenly as she left. With out a word she ripped the box she held open and pulled out a slip of green paper and a small blade. Walking up to the bed she cut a small slice in Kakashi's arm and pressed the green paper too it. Blood sluggishly wicked up the strip and the whole thing lit on fire. Purple flames flickered up before a small burst of yellow light evaporated the strip and blood all together.

Tsunade and Shizune exchanged grave looks. "How?" Shizune asked.

"I want to know why." Tsunade replied.

Sakura, momentarily still, shook her head before looking down in to Kakashi's face. Her shoulders trembled slightly. "What did you do?" She was still a moment longer before she renewed her efforts. Tsunade placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Let him go."

The words took Naruto by surprise and he shook him self. He heard the words, but he didn't, couldn't, believe them. "What?"

The three women turned to look at him. "I told you to get out." Tsunade half growled.

Naruto pushed off the door, shaky, but feeling an odd surge of energy. "And I said no! What is this? What did that light tell you?"

Tsunade's eyes burned. "Get OUT."

"TELL ME!"

Shizune stepped between them and took Naruto's arms again in her grasp. "Your sensei used up all of his chakra, but then he tried to use more. His body tried to make more on demand, but. . ." She sighed. "It couldn't do it fast enough with out rupturing a lot of cells all over his body. Now the waist from all of those dead cells are poisoning him." She rubbed his arms soothingly. "I'm afraid once a body has reached this point. . ."

"No."

"Naruto." She dropped her head. "I'm sorry."

"NO!"

Silence filled the room again and Naruto realised he was crying. He didn't know when he started, but now he couldn't stop. "This is my fault." He looked up at Sakura who was still sitting on top of Kakashi. Her head was bowed and her shoulders stiff. Light flickered between her and the wall.

"Why is this your fault?" Tsunade asked, her eyes cold and demanding.

Naruto hung his own head, all of the rage, fear and dread was melting away. Replacing it was a horrible, unbearable, grief. He tried to speak, to tell her, but his words jumbled up in a sniveling gasp.

"He's not dead yet." Sakura's voice was firm. "Not yet Naruto, we can still save him." The flickering energy was growing brighter. Tsunade turned to her and looked for a moment stunned.

"What are you doing?"

"Chiyo was a poison expert. I was given a number of her medical text by Gaara." The light grew and Naruto could see spikes radiating past her sides. "I can draw the toxic waist out."

"Sakura, even if you draw it out the damage has been done." Tsunade said. "It would be best if you let him die."

The energy spiked again and small brown-green liquid drops floated up around her. Naruto pulled out of Shizne's grasp and stepped up to the foot of the bed. ". . .Sakura. . ."

Even though all he could see was her back and her feet he knew what the look on her face was. He'd seen her determination a hundred times before.

"Stop this at once." Tsunade said firmly.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

The look the Hokage shot him was hollow and hard and angry and full all at the same moment. "Because I ordered you to." She said at length.

"Lady Tsunade." Shizune said quietly. "Let them try."

Naruto pushed past her and stood next to the bed to look up in to Sakura's eyes. "Can I help?"

She glanced at him, her eyes were filled with purpose. "Breath for him, Naruto."

* * *

_Present time_

He tried to shake the memories off, but they were still to fresh and raw.

Tsunade unfolded her arms and looked down at the papers on her desk. "My mind is always on the safety of the village."

"Good for you." Naruto grunted. "I'll be sure to remember that next time you give up on my sensei." Sakura elbowed him roughly but he ignored her.

In stead of the wrath that should have come from the fifth she smiled, sadly. "You just don't understand. Now he may never be able to create Chakra at all. He may never be able to go on another mission."

Naruto grunted again. "He'll be fine."

"You don't know that."

"Yes. I do." He argued. A second wave of memories flooded him.

* * *

_Flash back_

Sakura buried her head in her hands and took a shaking breath. "I can't believe we pulled that off. He should be dead." She shook her head in her hands. "Dead." She started to cry.

Naruto glanced back at her from his bed side vigil. "I never doubted you."

She cried harder. "I didn't think that would work."

He sighed and turned back to Kakashi. Gently he pulled the mask back up and in to place. "It worked." He whispered. "Can't we just for once be happy some thing went right?"

She didn't reply.

He pulled the blankets back up to Kakashi's chin and ran his fingers through the man's greasy damp hair. Closing his eyes he lowered his head. "You didn't have to wait to almost die for me to see your chin." Really, it was un-extraordinary. "Baka." He felt his own tears sliding down his face again.

For several minutes he stood, stroking the white hair, until he felt Sakura's arms wrap around his waist. "Why did he do it, Naruto?"

He wrapped his arms around her and let his chin settle on the plate of her head protector. "Trust me, you don't want to know. Not now. Maybe after we've both had sleep."

She nodded. "OK."

He sighed and tilted his head till his cheek was down. She smelled nice, despite the fear still rolling off of her. "Thank you."

"For what?"

Letting go with one arm he waved it towards Kakashi. "I thought I'd lost him."

"So did I."

He let the tears fall as he started to rock her gently. "Will he be OK?"

"He should be."

"Tsunade said. . ."

"I cleaned it all out, all he needs is rest." She said firmly, but gently.

"OK." Smiling he lifted his head and looked down at her. "If you say so then I believe it."

She smiled back before burring her head in his chest and sobbing. He rubbed her back gently and returned his cheek to her head. They stayed like that for a long, long time.

* * *

_Present time_

Tsunade leaned back and frowned. "You really are that brat's students." She scoffed and shook her head.

"Yes, we are." Naruto replied. He laced his finger's with Sakura's. "Till the day we die."

* * *

_Flash back_

"Don't let me go." She was still crying. They'd stepped back away from the bed and settled on the floor some time before. For the last hour they had set in silence. He'd finally shifted when his leg, the one she was leaning on, was going numb.

"Never."

She sniffed and looked up with large lugubrious eyes. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I know I'm not supposed to cry."

He chuckled dryly. "Look at my eyes."

She stared at him before smiling a little. "You are crying."

"Some ninja we are." He leaned his head back and shifted again.

"Naruto."

"Yeah?"

She curled back up in to him. "I think you are the most amazing ninja that has ever lived."

"I wish I could fee that way too." He let his head fall back against the wall. "I really do."

* * *

_Present time  
_

"You have one hour to get ready for your mission." Tsunade stood and gathered the papers up off her desk. "I suggest you both get some rest."

"Yes ma'am." Sakura said. She tugged on Naruto's hand and he yielded. Before they left he turned, and looked back at the Hokage.

"If being the Hokage is. . ." He faltered. "If it's like this then maybe. . .maybe I don't. . ."

"Do not finish that sentence." She growled.

Naruto sighed and followed Sakura out. The door clicked and the room fell in to silence. For a long moment she glared at the door before sinking back down and chewing on her thumb nail. Glanncing down at the paper on the top of the gathers stack she closed her eyes and dipped her head. It was a report from the former ANBU called Hawk and it was about Kakashi.

It was _not_ a pleasant read.

"Till the day you die." She whispered. "Maybe."

* * *

OK, I wrote this one fast, so if there are mistakes let me know. I had hit writes block again, but this chapter proves I'm over it. For good I hope. I really hope you guys are liking this. It's slow, and it jumps quite abit on the flash backs. I may edit the chapters again ad put time stamps in if things get out of hand. If you gus want time stamps, let me know.


	7. Paper Cut

I've been listing to a lot of music while writing this and I can honestly say from chapter two on till now, and from now on till this story is over, music has and will influence and inspire the plot and actions. What I'd like to know is do you want me to share with you what I've been listening to for each chapter/character? Some music may contain spoilers. I could post that selection only when the event comes up, but still, it may ruin some parts of the story. So, it's up to you if I post my inspiration for you to all go listen to.

Also if I miss spell a character's name or some thing do tell me!

* * *

**Chapter seven : Paper Cut  
**

* * *

Squinting against the bright morning sun Iruka kept to the walls of the school. From his lunch brake yesterday his mind had been in an inescapable fog, so thick and dark all he could manage to do was follow step by step the text book's lesson plan. He smiled, but couldn't feel it, he spoke, but it felt detached and distant. Every move he made hurt and felt numb at the same time. Now, as he stepped towards the door of his classroom his mind was clearing a little. Every step seemed to sweep the cotton from between his ears and, as he reached the front door, he took a full breath and rolled his shoulders.

He felt OK.

He smiled and rolled his neck. He couldn't remember what had happened to feel the way he had, but at the moment he didn't care. He could teach, and mean it, from the bottom of his heart. Lowering his head he sighed, content that the morning was starting well and calm and clear. Then he caught his reflection.

His heart skipped a beat as he discovered a dangerous smirk looking back at him. It shook it's head slightly and the smirk widened in to a small, savage, grin. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face before looking a second time. Now his reflection was as it should be, calm though a bit surprised, as well as matching his movements.

He stood for a moment, staring in disbelief, before he threw the door open and hurried in side. Students were everywhere and he forced him self to dive in to the small sea of bodies. Plastering a smile over his face he greeted each of his precious children by name and called them all to class.

He refused to look in to any of the windows.

* * *

Tsunade set the report she'd read over and over again down as white mist ans smoke appeared before her. Standing stiffly before her Hawk nodded just once.

"You wished to see me, Lady Hokage?" His voice was light and friendly.

"Yes, I've been trying to access your files for the last eight hours. Your earliest mission report was from two years ago. This report is from two and a half years ago."

"I'm sorry." He tilted his head a little. "You must not have been informed properly of the position change. I've only been 'Hawk' for two years."

"I see." She frowned. "Do you know who was 'Hawk' before you?"

It was a moment before he replied in disbelief. "You mean you don't _know_?"

"Know what?"

He shifted, slightly, and leaned back a little. "His files were permanently sealed. I don't know who he was or. . ." He shifted again, this time taking one very small step backwards from her. ". . . or. . . or _what_ he was."

"Explain." She growled.

"I'm sorry, but. . ." He took another step back, his voice wavering. "I don't have the clearance."

Tunade's brows quirked. "I'm giving you the clearance!"

"Forgive me, My lady." He brought his hands up and started to make signs. " I am forbidden to speak of this matter. This conversation is over."

She stood and leaned towards him. "I am the _**Hokage**_, who forbid you to speak to me about my own men?"

Mist again started to fill the room. "I can't tell you." In a puff of smoke he vanished.

Looking down at the report in her hand she bit her thumb nail. The position of ANBU was permanent and there were only two ways to be removed from the position: death or insanity. It was possible the former 'Hawk' was dead, but from the neatly lettered words of chaos and slaughter she doubted the former ANBU was so lucky.

She ran her hands half way though her hair and stopped, fingers tangled in strands of golden blond. "This day just gets better and better."

Folding the report she tucked it in to her pocket and stepped around the desk. If an ANBU agent couldn't tell her about his own position then there was only one ninja who could, The Paper Work Ninja.

* * *

"IRUKA SENSEI!" Two small arms threw them selves around his waist and a smiling face looked up at him.

"Hi, you are back. I'm sorry you had a cold." He ruffled the girls hair and looked over the rest of his charges. Little pudgy faces were all focused on him, eager to learn their lesson for the day.

"Take your seat kiddo." He stroked her cheek. "We have to get this class started."

"OK!" She flew off of him and up to her desk with a broad grin.

Giving his students one more look over before moving his attention to his lesson planner. Today there was a new hand seal to learn, and some stealth practice before lunch. He took a breath, recalled who had been having trouble with the signs last week, and noted to him self to watch those children very carefully.

"OK kids, to day we. . ." The sentence was cut off when a knock on the door sounded loudly. "One moment guys." Setting the planner aside he strode up to the door and reached out to open it, but it swung in before he could grab the handle. He expected, perhaps, another teacher, or maybe even a parent with a late student. With colds running a little rampant through his class there were more than just a couple of little ones mission. To his surprise no parent stood before him, but the Hokage her self.

"Lady Tsunade!" He managed a short bow as childish whispers and gasps erupted be hind him.

"I need you to come with me." She stepped back and allowed the substitute teacher to pass her. Had it been any one else at the door he would have protested. Instead he worried at his lower lip for a moment, wondering what she wanted from him so badly she felt she had to come in person.

"All right, let me prepare my students."

"You have one minute." She replied in a solid, clipped, tone.

He stepped back and turned to the children. "Kids, I've been called away. Behave, and do your lessons." There were more whispers and a number of disappointed looks, but no one protested out right. Possibly their compliance was due to the fact that Tsunade her self was standing in the door way, looking grim and a touch angry.

Iruka winced inwardly as he turned back to her, wondering if her sudden visit had any thing to do with the way had barged in on her two days before. He knew he needed to be reprimanded for his outburst, but thinking back on what he'd found – placed on his desk right in the open for him to find – made his skin crawl. Anger flared up again with in him and he had to fight to keep it from swamping him.

They'd let a team killer take charge of his students. He'd never really trusted Hatake Kakashi before, his resent discovery didn't grant him any more trust now.

"I'm ready."

She nodded and turned to walk down the halls silently. Keeping the anger down was difficult, if not a little undesirable. A small part of him wanted to be angry. Maybe if he'd been a stronger ninja he could have been Naruto's field teacher and team leader. He was too weak, though, and he'd never allowed him self to want that sort of rank or status. There were days, however, when he wondered if things could have been different.

Not every day was a good day when brats were throwing them selves at him.

"To what do I owe your honor of request?"

She tossed him a silencing look. Together they walked towards the big windows where, glancing at his reflection, he saw it was making the same face as he was. He was scowling.

* * *

Naruto let go of Sakura's fingers as they neared the point where they would split to go to their own houses.

"Did you mean it?" She asked, looking up at him sadly.

"Mean what?" He asked.

"That you don't want to become Hokage any more?"

From some where deep the question hurt, but not as bad as how the last 24 hours events had hurt. "No, yes, I don't know don't ask me right now."

She worried at her lower lip. "Naruto, are you OK? Some thing is wrong with you."

He looked at her and let his shoulders drop. "Yeah, just like there's some thing wrong with Kakashi, and. . ." His mind pulled another memory up. "Iruka sensei."

"I'm only interested in you right now." She said softly. "I want to know what's wrong with you."

The breeze tugged at his jacket and he closed his eyes. "I. . . I don't know." He took a small, shaking breath and fought with his answer. Opening his eyes he looked down at her. If she knew he wondered what would happen. After telling Kakashi the silver haired teacher had nearly died. He could not stand to see the same happen to Sakura. Sakura had been the only one to pull Kakashi from the grips of the grave, if he lost her then there would be no one to save them.

Reaching out he took her shoulders. "Listen to me, Sakura, I promise no matter what happens I will become Hokage."

"That's not what I asked."

"I know but that's all I can give you right now, OK?"

Her worried eyes darkened and she shoved his hands off her shoulders. "You don't trust me. After all that you still don't trust me."

He let his arms fall limp to his sides. The lies were better than the truths, if the truth would hurt her. "I trust you but not with my problems."

"Why?"

"Because. . ." He tried to think of a good way to say what he needed to say with out angering her. When his mind drew an exhausted blank he shrugged. "It's not that I don't trust you it;s just that Kakashi and I. . ." He rubbed his face. "Kakashi and I are both. . ."

"Boys?" She asked. He peered out from behind his fingers. She was standing, one hand on her hip, giving him a quirked eye brow and a sassy frown. "Is it boy problems?"

"What?" He let his hands fall a little. Her expression had gone from demanding and hurt to amusement so fast he wondered if he'd missed some thing.

"Oh for crying out loud, Naruto, I am a medical professional. I know all about _boy problems_." She straighted up and folded her arms.

"That's not. . ." He stammered, then caught him self. "But I. . . maybe?" His mined tried to switch gears and think about what ever 'boy problems' a person could have, but his mind stayed right where it was, stuck between the previous nightmares of sleep and the more resent nightmares while awake.

She shook her head and the expression wavered for a moment. "Look, if you don't want to talk about it to me, fine. But try not to burden Kakashi about it until he's better, OK?"

He nodded, mutely.

"Good, now lets hurry up. We only have 45 minutes left."

"Right."

She turned on her heal and started to walk away. With her back still towards him she added in a whisper, "And if the Fox troubles your sleep again I have pills for that."

She knew. Some how. Bless her preceptive weaselly little woman mind, she _knew_. Before he could say any thing she was gone. He stood for several minutes, just gapping, before he turned and wandered towards his home. How she knew, he didn't know or care, but she did and she was being quiet about it. And for that he loved her.

* * *

Deep in the farthest storage room, behind scores of locks and burred under years of dust and cobwebs stood a lone file cabinet. The moment he'd entered the dusty room the anger and head ache had evaporated. In it's place memories and old fears came tumbling in. He skimmed the cabinet with his fingers and knelt in front of it. Gracing it's front was a faded strip of innocent looking paper. Gently he brushed it clean of the thick dust to reveal a warning written in ink and blood.

"The answers you want are here." He said slowly. "But it's sealed."

"Can't you open it?"

For a moment the flicker of pain returned. Squinting he fought against it and it went away. "No. I can't."

Her angry growl and waves of dark chakra made him turn and look up at her. Pulling a sheet of paper out of her pocket, the report she'd told him about, she and opened it to read it. "I have to get in there."

"I can't open this for you, Lady Tsunade. I don't have the key."

"Who does?" She demanded, looking up past the sheet of paper.

Iruka turned away and closed his eyes. "The elders." The pain struck again with vengeance. "If I try to unlock it will detonate. The magnitude of that explosion would level this building, possibly this whole block."

She glared. "Why wasn't I _TOLD_ about this?"

"I thought you knew." Iruka replied, surprised. He opened his eyes and stood, slowly. "This file cabinet holds the most top secret files in the village. Some of them are the most well guarded secrets in Fire country. Only a Hokage or some one with Hokage clearance can open or close this. You should have the key already."

"So should you." She said flatly. "You have my clearance level approval already."

"It was sealed before my time in the office. I thought you had access to it already or I would have mentioned this to you from the very beginning."

She stepped up to the cabinet and stared thoughtfully at it for a long moment. "When was it last opened? Who opened it?"

Iruka thought for a moment before the memory hit him. "Night of the Fox attack. At least that's what I know. The last person I know opened this was the Fourth to retrieve the seal scroll necessary to seal the fox in to Naruto."

"Who all has information about this?"

"The elders." He replied. "And their aids."

"And you." She added before chewing on her thumb nail.

"Yes." He winced and rubbed his temples.

She turned to him and let her thumb drop. "What will it take to open this cabinet?"

"Aside from asking one of the elders or their aids, an S-ranked locksmith."

Tsunade growled, slumped against the innocent looking wooden box and folded her arms. "Dismissed."

"Lady Hokage. . ."

She turned a vicious look towards him. "I said. . ."

"I mean no disrespect." He held up his hands passively. "But maybe if I knew what you were looking for I could help you another way." He lowered her hands when she remained still. "You said are looking for top secret information on Kakashi. I'm the one who brought his actions to light to you."

He stood still as she looked him over slowly. "Lately I have been running over and over again in to people who I don't seem to be able to trust." She finally replied.

"You can trust me." And he meant it.

"How can I be sure?"

He ignored the now throbbing pain between his eyes and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Because it concerns Naruto. I would give my life to protect him. Wouldn't you?"

She started at him, not replying, for a long time before looking down at her feet.

* * *

Naruto shoved what he could think to carry in to his bag before swinging it over his shoulder. He'd packed in record time, using three clones to speed the process, there for he'd been in his apartment for less than five minutes. After quickly giving his lone house plant a good watering he left, locking the door behind him, and headed for the Konoha hospital. He still had a half an hour before he had to be back in Tsunade's office and he intended to use it making sure the one member of his team who wasn't going was going to be OK while he was gone.

Taking to the roof tops he made it to the stark white building in even less time than it had taken him to pack. He bounced down to the right window and nudged it open.

Sleeping soundly Kakashi did not stir as Naruto reached out and set his hand on the older man's forehead. There was no sign of fever to Naruto's relief. As hard as he'd tried to convince Kakashi his life had been in danger he had failed. Kakashi still trusted Tsunade fully.

Naruto lifted his palm till the fingers were all that were left touching him. Slowly he brushed the silver hair out of his teacher's face. As strong as the Jounin had tried to be once he woke up it was clear he was depleted. He'd slipped back in to sleep rather quickly and had been sleeping ever sense. As he pulled his fingers away Kakashi winced and took a steeper breath but did not wake up.

Naruto pulled his fingers back and let his bag down to the ground. He didn't trust Tsunade.

Quickly he signed for a clone. "Watch him, but do not let your self get caught. Be the fly on the wall."

The clone shifted and morphed in to a house fly and crawled up the wall to sit above Kakashi.

* * *

Tsunade nodded. "I would protect Naruto with my life." She looked up and scowled. "What I am about to say does NOT leave this room."

"Understood."

"For the last eight and a half hours I have been trying to understand what happened to Kakashi two and a half years ago. This report by the former agent known as 'Hawk' is all I have to go on." She held the paper up to illustrate her point.

"What does it say?" Iruka asked.

"It says there was a slaughter of sand civilians in a town called Sidewinder. Sidewinder is in sand country. There's no solid reason given for the attack, no indication of enemy activity. Why this hasn't been mentioned to me, or worse, started a war, I do not know. What I do know, from this report, is that agent Wolf is the primary suspect of the incident."

Iruka sucked in his breath. The head ache twisted in to some thing less painful, but more intense. "He killed sand civilians?"

Grimly she nodded. "That's what this report says."

"Who else was involved?"

"Agent 'Hawk' and agent 'Fox'." She replied levelly.

* * *

"If any thing happens release and I'll come back at once. Sauske or no Sauske."

The tinny fly saluted with a buzz.

Satisfied Naruto scooped up his bag and set his hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "I'll be back." He said firmly. "I promise."

* * *

"What were their involvement?" Iruka asked, aghast.

"According to 'Hawk' when he was called to investigate rouge activity with in the ANBU. When he arrived he discovered Fox was dead and Wolf -Kakashi- was not." She looked down at the report. "Kakashi resisted the agent, nearly killing him before disappearing. He was missing for almost two weeks after this incident. Jiraiya found him, I think, and brought him home."

"Did either of them say any thing?"

She shook her head. "I never got this report, and I never heard a peep from either of them." She sighed. "I don't think Jiraiya even knew."

"He's always been loyal." Iruka said.

She stood and set her hand on the cabinet. "I called in the former agent 'Hawk' and asked him about the former agent." Anger flashed in her deep blue eyes. Anger that Iruka could almost taste.

"And?"

"He told me our conversation was forbidden and left." She looked up at him, the anger was almost a smell now. Iruka took a slow calming breath.

"You should have clearance." He said and pinched the bridge of his nose. The strange non pain was pulsating. "You are the Hokage."

"I know." She turned towards him. "Some one is trying to block me from information I need to protect this city. Hatake Kakashi is clearly involved. I suspect Root."

"But Root is supposed to be dead." He argued, letting his hand back down.

"Supposed to be, but isn't." She held up the report. "Who brought this to me? Who restricted my access? Who was the original 'Hawk'? Does any of this have to do with the demon fox?" She squeezed the paper in her hand. "I want answers to all of these questions. " With a rather violent shove she thrust the report in to his chest. "But I don't have time to do the paper work."

He slid his hands up and took the paper from her. A pain caused him to glance down. He had a paper cut.

"You can count on me, Lady Tsunade. If it involves Naruto then I'm at your service."

She let go and refolded her arms. "At least some one is."

"What about Kakashi?" Iruka asked.

A slow, sad, smile spread over her face. "I'm going to have another 'talk' with him as soon as team Seven is gone."

Iruka smiled too, only it wasn't nearly as sad. "I hope you get all of the answers you are looking for."

* * *

I'll tell you one song i have listened to for this story: "Papercut" by Linkin Park: for Iruka. You can find it on youtube.


	8. Brace for impact

TT Snim

**Chapter eight: Brace for impact**

Sorry, this chapter proved to be a lot more than I thought it was going to be. I had to REMOVE parts of it just to keep from over inflating. Don't worry, those parts will be in the next chapter. ^_^

* * *

Naruto tilted his head and studied the porcelain face looking back at him. Tsunade was talking, but his mind was focused entirely on the stranger standing next to him. Shinny black eyes stared back with out any expression at all. Then, like some one had flipped on a light, the pale faced youth smiled a dry, hollow smile.

"My name is Sai."

Some thing about the empty smile and blank eyes irritated Naruto. The dark hair and dark cloths, the hollow look in his eyes and stone cut features, it all echoed of some one else. "Don't look at me like that." He growled. "Don't give me a fake smile."

The facade dropped instantly.

"Gentlemen." Tsunade's voice brought Naruto's attention back to her and he straightened up. "As you know, despite the fact that Gaara was brought back to life, a jinchuriki was killed by Akastuki. Naruto."

He looked up at her, a frown filling his face. "What?"

"You are their next target, that I am sure of." She stood and straightened her shoulders. "Your mission there for is of the utmost importance." She looked them all over, making sure they were all listening. "You will capture Sasorie's spy who is working secretly for Orochimaru. Should you fail to capture him you will kill him. With this spy we may well learn not only the whereabout of Orochimaru but also of the missing nin, Sauske Uchiha. If you gain information on Sauske Uchiha you will return to Konoha with this information rather than attempting to go after him your selves.. Is that clear?"

"Yes." The others chimed. Naruto nodded once, dryly. "I understand."

Her eyes fixed on him. "Captain Yamato is in charge and you will do as he is instructed."

"Yes ma'am."

"Naruto." She warned.

"I won't run off alone." He replied flatly.

"Good." She took a breath and looked them all over once more. "Dismissed."

Turning Naruto stepped up to the door before glancing back over his shoulder. "Tsunade."

Her eyes fixed on him. "Yes, Naruto?"

"Take care of Kakashi for me, OK?" He just barely managed to hold the venom out of his words.

"I will." She said, politely.

He stepped out the door and shouldered his bag. Behind him he could hear the others exiting the room after him. Some one was coming up behind him quickly with strong measured steps. He expected to see Captain Yamato, who intrigued him just a little, but in stead when he turned to look it was the dark haired youth, Sai.

"What do you want?"

"I introduced my self. Common courtesy requires you introduce your self back to me."

"You know my name." He shifted the wight of his bag and glared. "Every one knows who I am."

"Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuriki containing the nine tailed demon fox. Your favorite food is Raman. Your birth date is October Tenth. You dislike fresh vegetables. You also like to water your plant every Wednesday or just before you leave on a mission. You. . ."

Naruto stopped and held up his hand. "Like I said, _Sai_, you already know who I am. Now shut the hell up and stay out of my way." With a small growl Naruto walked on, putting as much distance between him self and the team as he could. He heard, just as he rounded a corner, Sakura speaking to the new dark haired boy.

Naruto realized, just then, what he hated so much about him.

"Oh, you look like my former team mate, Sauske."

"Do I?"

He did.

* * *

Iruka grabbed the head ache pills and glanced around. Despite the grinding pain right between his eyes he refused to swallow the grape sized monsters dry, but once more his '_Best teacher in the world_' cup was missing. Standing, frustrated, he scanned the room. For the object

"OK, who took my cup this time!"

One pudgy hand lifted. "Sorry, Sensei, I needed to clean up my pencil shavings. I will wash it." The boy scrambled from his seat and trotted over to the sink. Children were relaxing and chatting quietly as they readied for class. The pudgy one stepped awkwardly past two of his thinner classmates and nearly stumbled over a third.

The cup slipped from his hands and shattered on the floor. Oops, Sorry Iruka sensei! I'll get you a new one!"

Iruka glared. "For crying out loud, Shisui, when are you going to learn to be careful!" Iruka side stepped a hand full of shocked children and marched up to the pudgy _brat_. Grabbing him by the elbow he pulled him close. "I want you to get a broom from the janitorial closet and have this cleaned up before class starts. If it's NOT cleaned up by then you will be sent to detention."

Shisui blinked and tears sprung up in his eyes. "Y. . . yes. . . Iruka Sensei."

Iruka gripped the fat limb a little harder. "Ninja don't cry." he let the limb go with a little shove and turned away from the class. Stepping up to the sink he rummaged through the cabinet for a glass. "The rest of you get to your seats." He hissed over his shoulder. "No more running around in the morning."

Silence fell heavily over the room as he pulled the one clean glass out from the back of the shelf. The class room door opened and closed as Shisui left to look for the broom and dust pan. Filling the cup was a practice in patients for Iruka. The water was, while all together to slow, was mesmerizing. When the glass was finally full he brought the pills up and glanced in to the glittering liquid.

His reflection was laughing at him.

At the image his heart exploaded in to a race of wild beats and skipped strokes. His breath caught and he dropped the glass. A small but strong hand shot out and caught it. Konohamaru was next to him, looking up with a frown.

"Are you OK Iruka Sensei?"

Iruka took a calming breath, but it did not help. The room was spinning and his vision was graying around the edges just a little. "I. . ." Turning he looked back at the kids. They were all staring at him, wide eyed and frightened. ". . . I didn't mean to . . ." He wanted to get away. He wanted more than any thing to be as far away from the children as possible. He wanted to be out in the fields, out with the other jounin.

He looked back down at the glass in Konahamaru's hand and shuddered. "I didn't mean to snap at him." He wanted to kill some thing, some one. He didn't know who. He pressed the palm of his hand in to his forehead.

The pain was going to kill him. "I just have a head ache."

"Maybe you should see the school nurse." Konahamaru's warm hand touched his arm and Iruka had to force him self not to jerk away from the innocent touch.

"Yeah." He took another breath and let his palm drop. In his other hand the pills were still there.

Two didn't seem like nearly enough. He'd take the whole bottle. Right now. Even if that killed him.

The two pills dropped in to the sink. "Go find the principal and tell him. . ." A wave of slight nausea flowed over him and he gripped the edge of the sink.

"Maybe you are getting sick like the others."

All he could do was nod.

Maybe he'd take the whole bottle, because the need to kill some thing, any thing was focusing on that hand on his arm.

"Do you want me to come with you to the nurses station?"

"Let me go." His words were even, cold. "I'll go alone."

"OK." The hand was pulled away and he took another breath. The sound of the door opening again and then closing with a bang made him want to scream. Instead he tossed the two pills down and swallowed them, dry.

* * *

Naruto stopped when captain Yamato held up his hand just before exiting the main gate. "OK, kids, lets stop and take a moment to acquaint our selves with each other."

Naruto held his peace while Sakura spoke up and babbled on about her skills and her dreams and her past missions. Including the one they had just been on. Sai was next. Listning despite his eyes being half closed Naruto focused on each word.

"I am Sai Haki. My only dream is to serve the leaf. I have no dislikes, but I do enjoy painting." As if to prove his point he held up a scroll with a very stylized looking lion on it. At least Naruto thought it might be a lion. It could have been an ugly dog.

"Pfft, you call that art?"

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded. "I think it's nice."

Sai flashed another fake smile. "Thank you." He gave a short stiff bow.

"Didn't I tell you NOT to make that face?"

Sakura opened her mouth to reprimand him again but Captain Yamato cleared his throat. "I am not like Kakashi."

Naruto's attention was pulled from the ugly inked animal and Sakura.

"Kakshi tends to observe and only make corrections when he thinks it is absolutely necessary to the survival of a team mate."

This was true enough, Naruto noted.

"I am not like that. If I see a mistake being made I _will correct_ _it_ right away. I am not afraid to use force, or even fear if I have to."

"Fear?" Naruto scoffed. After having the fox trying to drive him insane he wondered just what a mere human could do. Captain Yamato, catching the tone of his voice instantly, leaned close.

"Fear." He said in a near whisper. His eyes darkened and Naruto caught the look of a soulless, ANBU, killer. "Is my weapon of choice." The same sort of soulless look he'd seen in all killers. The eyes lacked compassion, empathy, humanity, they looked like empty, hungry voids. Naruto's heart suddenly rammed it's way up his throat as panic flooded him when he instinctively compared them to the eyes he'd seen over and over in his dreams. He gulped and jumped back, momentarily terrified beyond reason.

"Don't DO that!"

Yamato chuckled and straightened up with an easy smile. "I have three rules. Number one, you will not fight. If I catch you fighting you will be locked together in a room until I see it fit to let you free. Number two, no one strays from the plans unless their life is in immediate danger. If you feel your team mate's life is in danger DO NOT go throwing your self in the path of harm to save them. I know Kakshi sempai has taught you to do just the opposite, but I am not him. You all have to stand on your own two feet this time. Number three." He glared at Sai. "If you wish to deviate from the plan for any reason you will run that by me first. Is that understood?"

Together they chimed "Yes."

"Wonderful. Lets go."

Naruto, heart still thundering wildly, glanced at Sakura who shrugged. Together the followed their new leader. Sai fell in to step behind them.

This was going to be a long mission.

* * *

Tsunade pulled back the white curtain and let the light flow in all round her. From behind her she could hear Kakashi starting to move. He moaned and then stilled.

"Lady Tsunade?"

She fingered the syringe in her hand and frowned. "I need to ask you some questions." She looked over her shoulder at him.

He was struggling to sit up. He wasn't supposed to be trying to sit up, he was supposed to be to week to move. He pulled him self up with apparent ease, but slumped forward with a small tremble. Despite the sweat and the wheezing his efforts gave him he managing to look lazy and untroubled. "What sort of Questions?" He sounded almost cheery. He was supposed to be dead.

"About one of your missions."

He was supposed to be innocent. She turned towards him and took the IV tubing in her fingers. She caught the fear in his eyes before he could toss up a fake smile. "What is that?"

Pressing the needle in to the port she let her thumb rest on the syringe's plunger. "It's to help you relax."

* * *

Iruka stumbled trough the halls, keeping one hand on the wall to steady him self. His other hand he pressed tightly to his forehead. His whole head felt like it was on fire.

He'd made it out of the school as quickly as he could, and fought his way to the Hokage tower. Twice he had to stop to catch his breath and keep his stomach from rebelling. Now as he aproched Tsunade's office he hoped relief would finally be with in his reach.

The door loomed up in front of him and he knocked. When it opened and it wasn't Tsunade it was all he could do to keep from sinking to his knees.

"Shizune." He breathed.

"Umino-San, shouldn't you be teaching class today?"

"I. . ."

"You look terrible." She had his arm and was pulling him in to the room before he could react. "I'm sorry but Tsunade is doing her rounds at the Hospital early today. What seems to be the matter?"

He swallowed and let her guide him to a chair. "My brain feels like it's going to split in two." The sudden absurdity at that statement made him want to laugh. Maybe cry.

She was suddenly kneeling in front of him, some thing fowl smelling in her hand. "This will clear up the pain."

He nodded and closed his eyes. Gently she took off his head band and rubbed the salve on to his head and temples. The relief was instant. He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and sank in to the chair.

"Better?" She asked.

He opened his eyes and smiled a little at her honest concern. "Have you . . . have you ever. . . looked in the mirror and. . ." He glanced away. "This is going to sound crazy."

"Tell me." She set the salve aside and pulled up a chair. "What about the mirror?"

"Some times when I look at my reflection I. . . Have you ever looked at your reflection and not recognized the face looking back?"

She nodded. "Some times." He looked away, and tried to keep his breathing level. "Sweety look at me." Turning back he frowned at her smile. "Every one is under a lot of stress right now. The attack on Sand has us all worried. You know you would be affected more than any one else. We all know how much Naruto means to you. We all know how much you mean to him."

"Yes, but I don't think this is just worry." He sighed.

"Then what is it. Are you getting sick? You know we can take sick days."

He hesitated for a moment. "It's like some one is watching me." He checked her eyes, she was still listing. "Like when I see my self it's not me."

"Then who is it?"

"I don't know!" The memory of that laughing, twisted, face sent a bolt of panic through him and he jumped out of the chair. Shizune remained seated, but looked startled.

"I'm going crazy. I. . . I see his face looking back at me. It's not me. It's NOT ME!" He ran his hand over his head and started to pace. "I look in the mirror and I catch the look I'm making and it's not what I'm feeling." He ran his hand over his head again and felt his hair band coming loose. "It's like I'm looking at a different person all together."

She stood and took his arm, stopping him from pacing. "We all do that, Iruka. We all catch our selves making faces we didn't know we were making. How long has it been scene you had a full night's sleep? Or took time to relax? How many days have you been working straight? You work eight hours at the Academy, then another eight in the mission room. Do you even get eight hours of sleep a night?"

Wearily he shook his head. "No."

"Six?"

He shook his head again.

"Go home. Take a long shower and then find the spot where you feel most comfortable and stay there until you can relax. Read, sleep, do any thing but worry your self." She let his arm go. "We are all running on a tight wire right now, you are not alone. Tsunade hasn't slept in days her self."

Iruka sighed and rolled his shoulders. "She hasn't?" He asked, hopeful that Shizune was right.

"No, she's been very preoccupied with some thing. I'm not sure what it is, but I think like every one else her mind is on Naruto after what's hgappened on his last mission. People are worried, Umino-san, people are scared. Tsunade's obsession with. . . well. . . what ever it is, is related to all of this."

Iruka realized he knew exactly what that 'some thing' was. He felt the twinge of anger race through him, but he let it pass instead of fight it off. According to the papers Kakashi had killed civilians, he had no right to be granted forgiveness. "I'm not the only one." He managed. "I'm not. . ."

"No, you are far from the only one who's under tension."

Rubbing his face he sighed again. "Thanks."

"Go home and take a shower."

He nodded and stepped towards the door.

"Oh, take the salve. Your head aches are probably migraines caused from the stress. Keep this with you."

He took the salve and smiled. "Thank you, Lady Shizune."

"You are welcome, Umino-San."

* * *

Kakashi watched, silently, as the plunger was slowly depressed. He waited as the milky white substance flowed down the clear IV tubing and in to his arm. There was a moment where nothing happened, then he felt a numb tingle start in his spine and roll down his back and from there in to his limbs. Then the tingle turned to lead and he felt like he was five hundred pounds heavier. The sun light was all together to bright after that and he had to lay down again. The world was a wash of white and gold colored hair. Slowly he reached up and let the back of his hand fall over his eyes. He tried to speak, but the words jumbled together for a moment before he let out a heavy sigh.

"Just lay there for a moment. I have another dose to give you."

Peering out from under his hand he saw her lift a syringe filled with clear blue liquid to the IV port. He recognized the color, but could not figure out what it meant. From some where he could hear the buzzing of a fly. The sound made his head spin.

"Don't." He said, but his voice was a shallow whisper. If she heard him or not she didn't respond.

Just as the syringe was being pressed in to the port a strong hand grabbed her wrist. Kakashi turned his head, to see who had come, and saw wave after wave of white wild hair.

"Jiraya." Tsunade said, eyes wide with shock.

The toad sage grinned. "Hey'a Boobs."

Rage flashed over her features and before Kakashi could blink the wall was dented and plaster was raining down over Jiraya's crumpled form on the other side of the room.

"Danm it woman! Is that any way to say 'hi'?" Jiraya asked as he picked him self up. The syringe was in his hand. Kakshi closed his eyes as he realized he'd been terrified.

Terrified of the Hokage.

* * *

Naruto glanced up at the sun and squinted. It was hours and hours nightfall, before he could try to rest. He shrugged his pack up and glanced back at Sakura and Sai, feeling all of the events of the last several days overpowering him. Sakura was walking easily under her light pack, but Sai was walking stiffly, taking measured unchanging steps. His expression was blank and, to Naruto, devoid of any sign of humanity. His extra pasty white skin reminded him of Orochimaru.

Sai caught his gaze and faltered in his mechanical pace. "Is there some thing I can do for you?" He asked. His expression did not change.

Naruto glared and snorted. "Yeah, disappear."

"Naruto!" Sakura snapped.

Yamato stopped and turned back towards them. "What was rule number one?"

"We are not allowed to fight amongst our selves." Sai repeated automatically.

"I wasn't fighting." Naruto shifted his pack and cast a dark gaze towards Sai. "I just don't get why he's with us. Who is he? WHAT is he?"

"Weren't you listening to Tsunade at all?" Sakura asked, looking a touch angry.

"Not really." He admitted.

"Sai was assigned to aid us because of his artistic abilities." She said. Naruto stared at her, waiting for more information, but she stopped there.

"I don't get it. WHY are his abilities, or lack there of so important to this mission?"

"I have the ability to capture the true likeness of a person, despite any disguise they may create."

"So?"

This time Yamato spoke up. "Before we engage the Spy it will be important to properly gage him before we confront him. You three are still only genin, and as such you are not ranked to properly handle. . ."

"Don't tell me what I can, and can not handle." Naruto growled. "I'll bet he's a spy, isn't he?"

"Naruto." Yamato said firmly. "Listen to me. I am. . ."

"I don't trust him." Naruto interrupted again and marched up to Sai. "He's like some sort of statue. He's creepy and we don't NEED him following us when we don't know who he is or where he came from."

Are you questioning the Hokage's orders?" Yamato asked coolly.

"Yes!" Natruto snapped. "I am!"

"Do you not wish to return your team number to the proper order after your former team mate turned on you?" Sai asked flatly. "Sasuke tried to kill you."

"Don't you _ever_ speak his name like that again." His whispered. Pent up anger bubbled dangerously just with in his ability to keep it subdued. But his hold was slipping.

"Sauske Uchiha is a rouge ninja who has affiliated with Orochimaru. Orichimaru wished to destroy Konoha. There for Sasuke. . ."

"Shut up."

". . . is a wanted criminal." Sai finished.

He could feel his blood boiling, cracks in his mental shield were growling and he felt an all to familiar surge of hate flow through him. Taking a slow breath he turned towards the white skinned boy. "I said SHUT UP!"

"Both of you." Yamato said firmly. "Stop this at once!"

Sai stared back with out any emotion. "Naruto is unstable, Captain Yamato. Perhaps he should return to Konoha as he may endanger this mission."

The cracks gave way to a flood of rage and pain. "I will _KILL_ YOU." He could feel him self dropping his pack and jumping, he could see the porcelain face watching him, the thin hands lifting in to a sign, he could feel the red hot burn of the fox ripping at him just under the surface.

"_**DIE**_!"

Wood, hard and solid, was racing in front of him, between him and his target. Naruto tried to doge it but it was all around him. He collided with the solid planks and a rush of cold blew through him like a winter storm. The raging flood of burning anger was blasted back in to a chilly dry silence. He landed, caged, and dropped to his knees choking back a scream. All of the hate was gone leaving him queasy and empty feeling in side.

He tried to claw at the cage but a calm hand settled on his shoulder, causing him to stop and look up. Standing above him Yamato was scowling. "Stop."

He glanced up at Sai, who had his hands up for defence, and shuddered when he discovered they were only three feet apart. The wood around him alone had prevented him from ripping the other youth to bloody shreds. He swallowed hard as bile crept up his throat from the gory nightmare images that invoked. Taring his eyes off of Sai he looked up at his other team mate, Sakura. It only took a second to register she was staring at him frozen in horror. Both of her hands were up, also defensively, and she looked nearly as pail as Sai did. He couldn't stand the fear in her eyes and looked down in shame.

"I'm sorry."

His hands were shaking so hard they hurt as the adrenalin ebbed from his blood. His whole body was trembling and world started to spin. The wood cage slid away back in to Yamato's other hand as Naruto's vision started to blur.

"I'm sorry." He closed his eyes and pressed his palms in to his face. "I'm sorry." He said again, but the words sounded hollow in his ears. "I didn't mean to."

"Just sit here for a minute, and calm the hell down." Yamato hissed next to him.

Naruto nodded, to drained to do any thing else. "Yes sir."

* * *

Jiraya dusted him self off as he stepped back up to the side of the bed. Tsunade's eyes were wide with shock and anger, but she was standing still, waiting for him to speak. He'd managed to take the syringe from her hand just before she'd hit him. Throwing an easy smile up he stuffed the syringe in his pocket, confident the needle was to big for puncturing skin if she'd intended to shove it in the IV instead. Not all needles were meant to poke holes in people.

People like Kakashi. The young jounin was limp as a wet blanket, and thin looking. His eyes were half lidded, but filled with fear. The sharingan was dark and glassy. Despite the cheery sunlight streaming in the whole room felt like the dark claws of death were sinking in to every surface. Tsunae looked like the reaper. He touched the syringe once more before folding his arms passively.

"Tsunade, I see you are keeping your arm in good condition." He reached up and rubbed his jaw. She could have broken it, but she'd held back just enough to merely send him flying in to the wall, not shatter his bones. She looked serious, but more than that, she looked like she was ready to send him flying again. And yet she didn't.

"What are you doing here?" She asked levelly. "You know you could have sent some one to tell me you had returned."

Still rubbing his jaw he stepped easily between her and the silver haired ninja laying helplessly in front of her like a lamb to the slaughter. "I have news I couldn't wait to give you." He replied. Kakashi glanced up at him desperately but he remained silent.

"And just what happened to you?" Jiraya asked. He reached down and took hold of Kakashi's shoulder. The skin was warm and sticky, but there was no chakra flowing through him. It was hard, but Jiraya managed to keep him self from frowning. Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment before looking over to the blond hovering nearby. He let his eyes rest there before looking back up filled with worry and some thing that looked like exhaustion.

"What sort of news?" She asked. Her voice was still flat and reserved.

"Lets step out side, the brat here looks like he could use a nap."

Finally Kakashi's expression softened. "Tired." He breathed.

"Yeah, I can see that." He ruffled the dirty silver hair and stepped back. "Sleep it off."

Kakashi grunted and closed his eyes. He lay still, but his breathing was to choppy to indicate sleep. Jiraya reached out and set his hand on Tsunade's back. "Come on."

She yielded under his guidance and together they stepped out of the room. She was tense under his touch, but did not pull way until they had walked all the way down to the end of the hall and stopped next to a window.

"You want to tell me why you were going to fill Konoha's number one brat with this little speciality of yours?" He pulled the syringe out of his pocket and twisted it in the air between them. The blue shimmered in the sun's dazzling beams.

She folded her arms and looked out the window. Slowly she took a breath in and let it out. "It's medicine." She finally snapped.

"Tsunade, I know what this is. You've pumped ME full of it a dozen times over the years." She pressed her lips together and continued to stare out the window. "Is your special truth serum. You made me confess to peeping, steeling panties. . ." She didn't move. ". . . having my way with Shizune."

This time her head snapped to attention. "You _WHAT_?"

He chuckled and lowered the syringe. "I didn't." Smiling distantly he glanced away. "Would have been nice, though." For a moment he let him self think on the soft, dark haired assistant, before looking back at the fifth. "We both know I know that you know that I know what this is. What I want to know is what you want to know so bad you got'a pump this size of a dose in to Kakashi. Are you _trying_ to kill him?"

She pressed her lips thin again and glanced down at the floor between them.

"Tsunade?" He asked, finally letting him self frown.

She bit the tip of her thumb nail and closed her eyes. Jiraya leaned back against the wall and stuffed the syringe back in to his pocket. With a troubled sigh he leaned his head back and closed his eyes as well. "You had better have a _damn good_ reason for this, bitch."

He expected her to hiss, or yell at him, or say some thing nasty and bitting in retaliation. Instead he felt her lean in to him quietly with a slight shiver. He opened his eyes and looked down at her in surprise. She buried her face in his side and he felt her fingers curl up in the fabric of his sleeve.

Once more he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. This time he also brought his arm up and gently wrapped it around her.

* * *

Iruka peeled the shirt off his back and let it drop. With it the hair band fell to the floor leaving his pony tail to come loose. Hair fell in messy clumps all around his face. He kept his eyes fixed on the far wall, away from the mirror, but as he reached down to pull off a sandal his head ache, mute though it was, throbbed and he stumbled. The movement brought him face to face with him self.

Haggered dull eyes studied him and he smiled slightly. No one was looking back at him. It was just his reflection. He turned away and pulled the offending sandal off, not seeing that the innocent inert reflection stayed in place for a fraction of a second, staring at him, before moving again as he moved.

Iruka peeled off the rest of his cloths once both sandals were neatly set aside and stepped up to the shower. He turned the water on and watched as the liquid streamed down in mesmerizing patterns. Reaching out he let it fall over his fingers and pool in his palm. It felt wonderful.

Stepping in to the stall he closed the door and let the warm water flow over him. Ribbons of clear blue danced in unnatural patterns down his back unseen. They began to bead in to dots, lazily they spun by threes slowly down his skin.

He sighed, content, and reached out to pick up the shampoo. Despite his new found relaxation his hand froze in place just in front of the container. A dart of fear raced through his heart as he tried to move the hand closer.

The water around him slowed to a downwards crawl in the air.

"I just. . . All I want is to. . ." He took a shaking breath and tried to make his hand move once more. "I just want to take a shower." His hand fell, limp, before it shot out and grabbed the container violently as if doing so of it's own free will. The sluggish water all around him dropped to the floor and raced down the drain. He bit his lip as he pulled the bottle back and opened the cap. The head ache was slowly building again. Carefully he pored a small amount of shampoo in to his other hand.

"I'm just stressed out." He mumbled. "It was a muscle spasm. I get them in my fingers." He set the bottle down, closed his eyes, and ran his soapy hand through his water soaked hair. "it's just the stress."

As he worked up a lather the many triads of water beads started to run down his back and then his arms once more. It rained in drops of three around him. Moments later the clover pattern formed and slipped down his chest and stomach. Soon the whole shower was shimmering with the strange liquid dance.

He opened his eyes and watched, spellbound, by the steady rotation of the shimmering droplets. They floated, slowly, _slowly_, and traced his body. Then one by one the triads stopped and floated back up. They hovered like liquid stars hung in a steamy sky.

Iruka lowered his hands and gazed, with glassy eyes at the spectacle.

To his left reflected in the shower door, slick and glistening wet, was his counterpart. While the drops around Iruka were hovering in thier strange waltz the water in the mirrored shower was still falling in torrents.

The reflection turned and grinned as it tossed damp hair.

Iruka's heart skipped a beat and he swallowed hard. The reflection would not mirror his actions. Fear,like lightning, shot through Iruka in an instant.

The water trembled, turning from a steady dance to a violent quake. Iruka couldn't move. The image smirked at him as it continued to wash.

Iruka bolted from the bathroom, soap and water trailing behind him, until he stumbled to his knees next to his bed.

* * *

"Get up." Naruto looked up at Yamato who was staring down with a stern glare. His hands were up and out, ready to act should he have to. Naruto shrank back, still reeling from the sudden stop.

"How did you do it? How did you stop me?"

The hard expression softened a little. "I have the blood of the first Hokage in me. Supposedly he had the ability to control the tailed beasts."

Naruto glanced away. "Now I get it."

"Get what?" He asked.

"You. . ." He looked back up and smiled a little. "You are here to keep me from killing them." He could feel tears tugging at the corners of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. "I'm loosing my grip and the seal is going to come loose."

Yamato nodded once. "That's correct."

"I still don't get why Sai is here, though."

"Does that matter?" Yamato asked.

Naruto looked up and over to where Sakura and Sai were. They were watching him from a grate distance. "No, no not really."

"Will you stop fighting with him?"

Naruto hung his head and closed his eyes. "Just promise me if I loose my temper you'll stop me." He looked back up, determination flickering to life from deep with in. Determination he hadn't felt in weeks. "Then I'll promise to keep my anger in check as best as I can."

Yamato stood silent for a moment, before offering his hand. Naruto took it and was pulled up to his feet. "A promise for a promise. I agree."

"Grate!" A smile formed and Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, that wood thing is cool. Is that part of having the first's blood in you?"

"It is. You know, your brighter than people said you would be."

The smile dropped instantly. "Hey!"

Yamato chuckled, showing a sliver of true humor. "Sorry, I'm just honest."

"Is he safe to be near yet?" Sai asked in the same, dry, emotionless tone he'd been using.

Yamato opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto held up his hand. "Oi, Sorry about that, uh, Sai." He stepped towards them. "Some times I get a little carried away." Sakura took a step back and worried at her lower lip.

"You tried to kill me." Sai said as if he were commenting on some thing trivial.

"Yeah." Naruto continued towards them, eyes flicing between Sakura and Sai. "About that. . ."

"Is it because I mentioned the fact that the criminal Sauske Uchiha abandoned you?" Sai asked. Sakura stopped worrying her lip and glared at the dark haired youth.

"Sai!" She hissed.

Naruto forced him self to grin. "Some thing like that. But I won't hold a grudge."

"Then you are unstable when he is mentioned?" He tilted his head ignoring the offer for peace. "Are you also unstable if I insult your ugly team mate Sakura?"

"Sai!"

Naruto felt his fingers tighten in to fists as anger flickered through him. "Some times." He said through grit teeth. He could hear Yamato cursing behind him.

"Then are you also unstable when your teacher Kakashi is insulted?"

Naruto bit back a growl. "You can stop talking now." The distance between them was mere feet. "I don't want to fight with you."

Sai looked thoughtful for a second. "I heard he was dead. I also heard you slept with him." His eyes widened a little. "Oh, does that mean you two are lovers? And that you were to much for him? "

Naruto dropped his forced grin as a dozen curses spouted from behind him. He lifted his fist and readied for another attack. "I take my promise back!"

"I suppose he would have suffered less if your ugly team mate Sakura had loved him instead." He added as he lifted his fists as well.

Before Naruto could strike, before the streams of lumber could surround him, before he could brake the first rule a second time, a flurry of pink hair- accompanied by a savage amazon war scream- flashed before him. Sakura's fist landed square on Sai's jaw and the youth was sent flying in to the woods.

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU _PIG_!" She screeched. "YOU ARE THE _STUPIDEST_ PERSON IN THE WORLD!"

Naruto, having lost his solid target, fell flat on his face as timber sailed over him and crashed in to the dirt in front of him.

Silence filled the air as Sakura stepped over Naruto, wove her way through the tangled wood beams, and marched back to the road. She snatched her pack up and marched down the dusty path. "Lets go."

The wood slid back and Naruto pulled him self up to his knees. From some where in the distant foliage Sai was struggling to free him self from a wild leafy mess. As Naruto got to his feet Yamato stepped up behind him with a sigh.

"He's bating you, Naruto. You'll just have to ignore him."

Naruto watched as Sai untangled him self and pulled sticks and twigs from his cloths and hair. "Why?" He turned and looked at Yamato. "I thought you said he could read a person's true self."

"Maybe he can't read you because of the demon fox."

Sai was rolling his neck and dusting the last of the foliage off. "So he wants to fight me? We are on the same team."

Yamato turned away and grabbed his own dropped pack. "Just keep your distance from him."

"OK."

* * *

Jiraya waited for a long moment before he let go of the Hokage. "Talk to me."

"I don't know who to trust any more." Her voice was soft, almost a whisper.

He nudged her back so he could look in to her face. "What do you mean? Kakashi is. . .he. . . he's the best. Out of any one in the village you can trust him the most."

She shook her head 'no'.

"Why not?"

She stepped back and wrapped her arms around her self. "Sense Naruto returned I've found evidence of extensive root activity. I've discovered that there are files I can not get to, only the village elders can." She looked up at him, eyes bright, but distant. "What little I have been able to read has me wondering just how far Root has infiltrated the ANBU."

Jiraya shifted and leaned against the wall with an elbow propping his head up. "And you think Kakashi is a member of root? Have you been drinking?"

She glared. "What do you know about the ANBU member 'Hawk'?"

Jiraya was about to answer that he didn't keep track of the ANBU when a flicker of a memory surfaced. "Hawk?"

She nodded.

"Only rumours."

"Tell them to me."

He shifted and straightened up. "I want you to keep in mind that these are only rumours."

She nodded. "Go on."

"During the grate war the Fourth was supposed to be. . ." he hesitated.

"What was he doing?"

"There was supposed to be an experimental program. I heard that there were nine in the ANBU who were selected to get some sort of extra ability or some thing. I also heard it drove some of them mad."

* * *

Iruka shook as he tugged his shirt back on. The shampoo was drying his hair in to hard clumps, but he didn't notice.

There was only one place where he felt safe. Only one person could help him

Only the paper Work Ninja could find out what was happening to the Paper Work Ninja. He grabbed his vest but did not pull it on.

* * *

Tsunade looked up with lips pressed in a fine ruby red line. "What else?"

"Well." Jiraya thought hard for a moment, sifting through his memories. "I heard a lot of mask names, more than nine, but three kept coming up over and over again. Hawk, Fox and. . ."

"Wolf?" She asked.

"No, Raven."

"Itachi?" She asked.

He nodded. "I heard, and this is the sketchiest rumor of all, that there was some sort of slaughter in the land of sand."

Her eyes flickered a shade darker and she pulled out a sheet of folded paper. "Like this?"

Taking it he read it over slowly. Grim were the details of men, women, and children slaughtered in the streets of Sidewinder. "Yeah." Glancing down he read the name of the agent accused of the deed. When he saw it he cringed. "Wolf was never mentioned in any of the rumors." He said slowly as he looked at her.

"Do you know who hawk was or don't you?"

Slowly he nodded. "Yeah. I don't know what happened to him, but I know he was at least real." He refolded the paper and handed it back to her. "You know this could be a lie, a hoax, some thing to lead you astray?"

"I thought of that, yes." She replied, tucking the report back in to her pocket. "But when I questioned Kakashi about killing his former team mare he dodged the question. What's more two nights ago he almost killed him self doing _some thing_ to Naruto."

"Doing what?"

"I don't know. That was what I was going to find out before you interrupted me."

He frowned and pulled out the syringe. "With this much of your truth juice you could _kill_ him."

"I know. I'm prepared to do that if I have to."

Jiraya pressed down a small twinge of some thing that felt like anger. "What could he hace been doing to his own student that is so bad you'd kill him for it?"

She fingered the edge of her pocket. "Do you know what the Mangekyō Sharingan is?"

"Isn't it some sort of ultimate Sharingan thing?" He asked.

"Yes, but it can only activate when the person who owns the Sharingan has had some one close to them die, or nearly die. He didn't have it before you took Naruto, but he has it now." She tapped her pocket. "And he used it the other night on Naruto. Why, I don't know, but he tasked his body until it went in to toxic chakra shock."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Don't jerk my chain, Tsunade, even I know that will kill a person. He didn't look dead to me."

She stiffened. "He was dead." Her tone was so cold, so flat, that he could do nothing but take her word as the truth.

"Then how did he come back to life?"

"Sakura and Naruto saved him using a poison removal technique Sakura leaned in Sand." She folded her arms again. "I want to trust Kakashi, Jiraya. I want him to be telling me the truth but you and I both know that where Root is concerned we can not leave any stone unturned."

"I just don't believe Kakashi could kill sweet little Rin."

"What about the rumors? Fox was Rin. Wolf killed fox. Hawk reported it and now I have the report. Root wants the power of the demon fox in Naruto. The Mangekyō Sharingan is said to have the power to control the demon fox. Kakashi is Wolf and he has the Mangekyō Sharingan." Her brows furrowed and she leaned a little closer. "What would you do in my place?"

Jiraya sighed. "The same thing, except. . ." He held the syringe up. "I'd try to save him, because I'd be afraid of what would happen if he died. Naruto. . ." He shook his head. "He does not take death well."

"No." She said quietly. "For now he's away on a mission. I brought Tenzo in to the team."

Jiraya nodded slowly. "That's a smart move."

"I know it is." She snorted. "He may be the only one who can stop Naruto now."

"Stop the fox, you mean."

She shook her head. "No, Naruto. . . he's different, Jiraya. After going to Sand he changed. I don't know how to describe it, but it's not_ him_." She bit her nail before adding. "Kakashi used the Mangekyō Sharingan on that mission. Now that he's lied to me I don't know if I can trust the report he wrote about it."

"Look, I know how bad this sounds, and trust me I agree it needs to be addressed, but belive it or not we have some thing worse than that coming."

She let her nail go and looked up at him, frowning. "What could be worse?"

"Akastuki."

Her eyes darkened.

"I just got word that they attacked the head Fire Temple. The Twelve Guardians have been attacked and killed. The body of the head monk Chiriku is missing."

Tsunade stared at him, some of the color draining from her face. "What of the Fire Lord?"

"He was taken to safety, but the two Akastuky members escaped. You and I both know what they will be after next."

She nodded slowly.

"Let me worry about Kakashi for now. You get the village ready for the Akastuki. I'll report my findings to you personally."

"OK."

* * *

Paper was everywhere. Paper in piles, paper in stacks. He read them all faster than he'd ever read reports before. His mind was on fire. The words were sorting them selves. The sheets were like memories in his mind. The ink his very own synapses.

His eyes darted from one pile to another, one report to another. He needed more.

He didn't have every thing. He stood and opened another locked file cabinet, and another. Grabbing paper after paper he read them, and then deposited them in to ever growing piles.

He was bleeding from many, many little paper cuts.

* * *

"Tsunade."

She looked up, face filled with anxiety. "Yes?"

"You can trust me."

A thin smile formed. "I know."

* * *

As Naruto followed his team mates he felt the all to familiar burn of anger creeping back in to his mind. He winced and missed a step causing him to stumble. He dropped to one knee and gripped the straps of his pack as a wave of malice rushed through him.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked.

He looked up and forced a smile. "I'm OK, just tripped."

If he had to endure much more of this he was afraid he'd snap. He forced him self to keep his eyes off of Sai.

* * *

Jiraya knocked gently as he opened the door. Light was poring in like water over the deathly pale form of his student's student. He looked as Tsunade had suggested, like he'd just come back from the jaws of death. "Kakshi?"

The jonin opened his eyes slowly and blinked.

Jiraya entered and shut the door. "I hard it's been a long couple of days."

Kakashi stared at him before nodding faintly. His eyes slid closed. "Nr'to, gone?"

"He's on a mission." Jiraya sat on the bed opposite Kakashi's and felt some thing hard under him. Reaching down he pulled a familiar book out from the tangled sheets. "He's going to talk to that spy who worked for that Akastuki guy."

"Oh."

"Kakashi?"

He opened his eyes again. "Hn?"

"Tsunade said he's acting strangely, like he's not him self. Is every thing OK?"

Kakashi blinked a couple of times before gently shaking his head 'no'.

Jiraya fingered the book in his hands and flipped through a couple of pages. "Is it the fox?"

Kakashi nodded dully.

"Then why not tell Tsunade?"

"Don't. . . trust. . ." He whispered.

"Why?" One of the pages had a nasty looking doodle of a fanged fox eating people. The next page had a similar doodle, only this time the people looked like some of the villages. "She's the Hokage."

Kakashi closed his eyes. "Tried. . . kill." His chest heaved as he fought for air.

Jiraya couldn't argue that statement, so he changed the subject. "He's doodled all sorts of scary pictures in my new book."

Kakashi's eyes slid open a little faster this time. "Book?"

"Yeah, I told him not to bring it near you." Jiraya held it out at arms length, trying to understand what one doodle was. It looked like the fox, but it didn't quite fit that description. Naruto was no artist, but it wasn't like the other drawings. "I asked him to edit it for me, my last editor has a broken arm and can't do it."

Kakashi was staring at him, no, the book, with interest, despite the sedation. "New book?" He asked again.

Jiraya smiled. "Yes, the new book. But I can't let you read it yet, it's not done."

"Book!" Kakashi's brow twitched. "Drawings? Let me. . . see them. . ." He tried to sit up, but fell back with a gasp.

"You just lay there brat." Jiraya scolded. "You'll do your self in long before 'Boobs' does." He stuffed the book in his writing pouch and stood. Stepping over to the other bead he leaned against it and looked down in to Kakashi's half lidded dull eyes.

"Your sharingan is dark. Tsunade said you over used your body while here and now you are having trouble making chakra. Want to tell me what's going on?"

He glanced away, looking unsure. Jiraya pulled the syringe from his pocket. "I can get the answers from you the easy way or I can do it with this."

Kakashi looked back and fear flickered over his colorless face. "Don't."

"I'm not going to hurt you."

The fear stayed in place and he shook his head. "Not me." He struggled to sit up again and made it part way. "Naruto. . . is in trouble." From near by the fly buzzed softly.

Jiraya glanced up at it and frowned. "What sort of trouble?"

Kakashi shook his head and closed his eyes. "The fox is. . ." He sucked a breath in. ". . .tormenting him in his. . . sleep."

The fly buzzed again, angrily. Jiraya pulled out the book from his pocket and held it up above the fly. It scurried away. "Is that why he's been here with you?"

"He asked me to help him." Kakashi admitted, then sank down. "I couldn't. I tried." He breathed a heavy guilt filled sigh. "I can't save him."

The fly stopped fleeing and slowly crawled closer. Its forelegs rubbed together as it watched Kakashi. Jiraya snatched it up while it was distracted.

"Maybe you try to hard." The fly looked up at him. "Maybe you need to realize some times you have to let people look after you."

"I'm supposed to look after him. He's my student."

Jiraya sighed and sank down on to Kakashi's bed. "You still don't get what it means to be in a team." He looked away from the insect and down at the silver haired ninja. "You still don't understand a team works together. You need to practice what you preach."

"How can I be a team member if I can't help him? He's having nightmares. The fox is using him, his chakra. I can't. . . won't. . ." He took a slow breath and lifted the back of his hand to his eyes again. "If Tsunade finds out what will happen to him?"

"I think you are underestimating him. He's not that dumb kid you used to know. He's grown up a lot, Kakashi. Tsunade loves him and if he's in trouble then she needs to know so she can protect him." He looked down at the fly with a small smile. "She wouldn't even be here if it weren't for Naruto and his endless enthusiasm. So remember if she's acting off then maybe. . ." He looked down at Kakashi. "You need to look underneath the underneath."

Kakashi uncovered his eyes and blinked. "Underneath the underneath."

"Exactly." Jiraya stood and walked over to the window. The fly twitched in his hand, but did not flee. "I will tell Tsunade the truth, and you will let me worry about the consequences. I think we all have to remember that to every negative action a person takes is forged from a negative action they received. When she fights she fights to protect the people she cares about." He slowly wrapped his fingers over the fly. "Remember that." His fingers closed in and a waft of smoke and mist floated out from between them.

* * *

Naruto pulled him self back up to his feet and stepped forward, only to stumble again as the thoughts and memories of a clone filled him. He dropped to both knees.

No one noticed. "Jiraya sensei." Shaking his head he stood again and let the information he'd received proses.

"Are you coming or what?" Sakura asked over her shoulder.

"Yeah, right behind you."

* * *

Iruka dumped the last file case out and knelt down. He was in the center of the room. Gold and crimson light was streaming in now, washing every thing in gilded blood. The windows were clear, he could see through them. He turned and looked at his shadow. It was crawling over every sheet of paper.

He'd read them all. And he'd read them again. He'd read them until it all made scene.

He'd read until he could prove the man with the sharingan was the source of his insanity.


	9. Moments Before

As always let me know about my errors. I'll probably go back and do what editing I can soon. I know this is an ugly mess! But at least I'm _FAST_, right? **_Right!?_** Well, I hope you like it any way.

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Moments Before**

By: TT Snim

* * *

The new morning was so bright and warm it was almost like heaven, despite the fact that Asuma Sarutobi was standing in a dim and dingy ally way. Here, however, there were no prying eyes. He was alone and free to do as he wished. He smiled and closed his eyes to turn his face up to the sun while in his hands a bouquet of fiery red poppies swayed in the breeze. He stood for several long moments, quietly letting the bright warmth wash over his features, before opening his eyes again. Above him, through the shimmering glass and delicate lace curtains, Kurenai was brushing out her hair.

He glanced around to make sure no one would see him before jumping up to the balcony and knocking lightly. She stopped brushing and looked up with a smile. Reaching forward she unlatched the lock and the windows rolled open. "Asuma, what a nice surprise."

"I thought you knew I was coming." He handed her the flowers and found him self pleased when she grinned.

"Oh, where did you find these? They aren't in season yet!"

Giving his own smile he stepped in to the room and pulled her close. "I grew them."

For a moment her mouth moved but no words formed. Finally she blinked and turned away, smiling even wider. "You grew them." She stroked the delicate petals. "For me?"

"They are your favorite, right?"

She nodded and brought them up to her cheek. "I can't believe you did this."

He leaned against the wall and folded his arms. "I just. . ."

She looked up at him, waiting. When he glanced away her smile faded a little.

"What? You just what?"

He sighed and shifted on his feet. Finally he looked up and cleared his throat. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" She asked, her fingers toying with the crimson petals.

"Are you. . . Are we. . ."

"Yes?" She half laughed. "Spit it out."

"Are we going to be parents?"

She glanced down at the flowers in her hands with a blush. "Asuma. . ."

He pushed off the wall and stepped up to her. Softly he slid his hands around her waist. "Are we?"

Still looking down at her gift she nodded slowly. "I think so. But I'm going to make sure today. I have an appointment in about fifteen minutes with a doctor." She looked up, eyes widening. "Is _that_ why you are here?"

"Yes."

"You know if you come with me, and people find out it was you. . ."

He reached up and touched her lips. "I don't care." Pulling her close he ran his fingers through her hair. "It's mine, and you are mine. The rules about dating you are old and useless." He felt her nod against his jacket. "Besides." He added. "Every one already knows about us."

She pulled back and stared up at him wide eyed. "H-how?"

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "We may be surrounded."

Glancing past him she saw a table lamp twitch. "Boys?" The lamp poofed in to Kiba, and the desk under it turned in to Shino. From the corner of the room a dark shadow trembled and morphed in to Shikamaru. Kurenai blinked and pulled away from Asuma. "How did you get IN here?"

"Ninja!" Choji called from the kitchen.

* * *

Tsunade rolled her shoulders and grabbed the small box of food Shizune was holing out to her. "Thanks."

Morning was rolling over the land bright and blazing. The golden sun was chasing away the dark shadows of the night before, yet even high in the Hokage tower the chill lingered and refused to be chased away.

"Did you discover any thing more?" Shizune asked.

Tsunade sighed and picked out a sushi roll from the box. "No, nothing. We have no idea where the Akastuki are." She sighed and set the sushi back down. "The only thing we can do is try to find them before they reach Konoha."

"What about Naruto? With him out of the village..."

"That will be to our advantage. If the Akastuki think he's here then they won't look for him out side of the city. As is the mission he's on is top secret. Only his team, Jiraya and I know he's on it."

"And I." Shizune pointed out. "And possibly Umino-san."

Tsunade nodded. "True." She set the box of food down and leaned against her desk. "Call an assembly. I'm going to send out every available ninja to find the Akatsuki. We can not afford to have what happened in sand happen to us. Naruto was the one who managed to save Gaara, but if Naruto is gone then who will save him?"

Shizune frowned and looked down at her folded hands. "Do you really think what happened in Sand could happen here?"

Tsunade nodded. "They killed a Jinchuriki. They have unrivalled power."

Shizune looked up, slowly. "But Konoha is not like Sand. Garra fought alone, there was no one who was willing to fight along side him, right?"

"No, he chose to fight alone, to protect his village." Tsunade motioned towards the window, towards the village. "If they attack here what do you think Naruto will do?"

Shizune looked out over the roof tops. Stepping up to the window she set her finger tips on the chilly glass. "There are people here who won't let him fight alone. Besides, we'll find them before they even get here. It won't be a problem. We are NOT like Sand."

Slowly Tsunade smiled. "No, that we are not."

Shizune turned and smiled brightly. "Well, I'll go make that announcement then!"

* * *

Kakashi was still in the white room when he opened his eyes. What was more was his mind was clear and his body felt like it was once more whole. He was weak, but he no longer felt on the verge of. . .

. . . death?

Slowly he sat up and stretched his back. It was startling how much of a contrast he felt now as opposed to how he'd felt for the last week. Looking back at all of the pain and exhaustion he was surprised to realise that he'd never felt that bad physically before.

Turning he looked over at the other bed but saw it was made. Naruto wasn't there. A memory shrouded in fog from the day before floated to the surface and he remembered Jiraya had said Naruto was on a mission. Knowing that sent a cold wave of anxiety though him. His student was in no shape to be off on a mission, especially not one involving Orochimaru or Sauske.

He took a breath and slid one foot to the floor experimentally. Just as he leaned forward to put weight on it a wave of dizziness struck him. He leaned back and focused on his breathing. He still wasn't strong enough to do any thing. That brought up another memory, one that frightened him even more then the thought of his blond student out on a mission.

He'd lost the ability to make Chakra. Lifting his hand he tried to focus the energy in to some thing, any thing, but nothing happened.

Lowering his hand he glanced behind him, out the window. Naruto was out there, some where, headed for what could only be disaster. A new wash of fear flooded Kakashi and he lowered his head. He had the horrible feeling that once more he'd failed to protect some one on his team.

He'd failed. And there was nothing he could do to stop what ever would happen next.

* * *

Paper like snow, paper like leaves, paper like memories. Iruka sat, cross legged, vest off, hair down in crusted clumps, eyes red, as he surveyed the floor around him. Like petals of a shattered rose, like drops of blood from a wounded animal, red drops marked many of the scattered sheets.

Paper cuts lined his arms from his fingertips to his shoulders.

Memories like drops of water dancing by threes floated in his mind. His reflection looked as exhausted as he did.

The Paper Work Ninja's eyes were unfocused.

He still did not have his answers.

Paper like snow drifted in the air, like leaves in fall. His shadow crawled and writhed over every sheet, touched every letter marked in black, every stamp of the state marked in red. The shadows slithered over the drops of blood.

He still couldn't pull his thoughts together.

He'd read every thing, every report. Except. . .

Turning he eyed the locked cabinet through the open door to the farthest storage room.

The door opened up in front of him, sending light to fall all around him, evaporating the writhing shadows. The paper floating fell like rocks to the floor and he winced. Shizune stood agape in the light, a small pile of reports in her hand.

"Iruka?"

He glared at her. Alarmed she hurried in to the room, shutting the door behind her. Gently she knelt down and pressed her fingers to his forehead. "Are you OK?"

Slowly a smile, a cold joyless smile, spread over his lips. "I don't know."

She let her fingers slide down his temple and touch his cheek, before sliding down further and resting on his chin. "What happened here? Was there a fight?"

He gently took her hand and pulled it away. "I was just... reading."

"Reading?" She looked around, eyes wide. "All of this?"

"All of it."

Turning back to him she frowned. "You need to report in to the hospital. Some thing is wrong with you. I'm sorry I didn't see this yesterday."

The smile faded. "What are you doing here?" He asked dully, ignoring what she'd said. "You never come in to this part of the Hokage tower."

"I had these reports on the Akastuki. . ." She looked down at them and frowned. "Tsunade will be calling for every available Ninja to assemble at noon. She's going to send every one out to find them."

"Give me the papers."

"Umino-san. . ."

"Give them to me." He said flatly, the grip on her arm tightened. She handed them over with her free arm. He let her go and started to thumb through them. She watched as his eyes darkened and lost focus. The thumbed through them again.

"Iruka?"

He thumbed through them a third time and shadows started to crawl out from around him. Shizune gasped and stepped back. "Umino Sensei!"

He thumbed through it all once more and then dropped the papers with a grunt. Reaching up he buried his face in his hands. Still standing back away from him Shizune reached for the door.

"Where is Naruto?"

"I. . . Don't you know?"

He looked up dully through his fingers. "No."

"He's on a mission." She opened the door and stepped back. "Do you know you have dried shampoo in your hair?"

He glanced up. "Water. . ."

"You can rinse off in the bathroom in my office." She offered, her voice faltering slightly. "Just come out of the file room, OK?"

He stood, stiffly, and nodded. "Akastuki." He closed his eyes and held his head again.

"Come." Gently she took his arm and pulled him towards the door. "Rinse off then I want you to stay in my office until I'm done calling for an assembly."

He nodded again.

* * *

Naruto took a slow breath and fingered the clasp of his pack. All he wanted to do was sit there on the cool wood floor of the improvised shelter Yamato had constructed the night before. The others were up and had eaten. He could hear Sakura and Yamato just out side the window, talking about what road to take.

He closed his eyes. If he just sat there he'd conserve a little energy, maybe. Maybe he wouldn't be so tired when they got to the bridge.

"Naruto."

He looked up, lifting his head was like lifting a hundred pound lead weight. "Sai."

"Are you ill?"

He'd ignored every comment and question the other youth had thrown at him after the mess yesterday. Sai had eventually given up trying to provoke him. They hadn't spoken to each other scene the sun had gone down, now Naruto wondered what the raven haired teen wanted. He still didn't trust him.

_Maybe he'd kill him. Maybe that would be good_. Naruto winced at the thought. "Maybe. Why?"

Sai's emotionless face shifted to some thing close to confusion. "I read all about you before taking this mission." he stepped in closer and Naruto could see he was holding his paint book. "I don't believe the information was correct. It stated you were filled with boundless energy and optimism."

Naruto snorted at the blunt description. It had been true not more than a month ago. Now . . .

"Sorry I'm so disappointing to you." He mumbled bitterly.

"I am not so much disappointed as I am curious. Are you ill?"

_Maybe I'd brake his neck_. Naruto clutched the straps of his back pack and closed his eyes. "Maybe you should just go away, OK? I don't know why you are here or what you want with me but," He opened his eyes and looked up. "I'm not that little kid you read about. I'm dangerous. I already tried to kill you once and buster, I might just do it again."

Sai stepped up closer ignoring the warning growl in Naruto's voice. "Here." He handed Naruto the paint book. "While you were trying to sleep I painted this."

Naruto reached out, reluctantly, and took the book. The figure -admittedly well done- was curled in on him self with tails growing up and out. The tails looked off, some how, but Naruto realised that it matched how he felt exactly. He handed it back.

"So you can see what people are feeling. How is that a ninja skill?"

"I'm trained to look for the weak points in a person." He replied flatly as he tucked the book away. "A ninja isn't supposed to show emotions. That will expose his weak points."

Naruto sat up a little straighter. It was unnerving to have Sai read him so easily. All of the questioning, like Yamato said, had been his way of finding the weak points. The picture confirmed his skill. "Now what? Why are you hear? What's your goal other than the mission?"

Sai blinked for a moment. "My. . . Goal?"

"Yes, what are you after, what do you dream of doing or achieving?" Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know, the things you want out of life. You seem so...."

"I have no dreams." Sai cut him off, his voice still with out any emotional inflection.

Naruto looked up past his fingers. "No dreams? You don't want any thing."

"I have no personal wishes or desires."

Naruto rubbed his face. He was to tiered for this. It wasn't even noon yet and he was to tired for this. Maybe he was ill. _Maybe Sai really did need to die._ _Maybe he'd crush him_. Maybe he'd stop thinking those horrible thoughts.

"OK, what ever. I don't care." He looked back up and sighed. "What did you want again? Did you just come here to rub my weakness in my face?"

"We are team mates." He said. "I do not wish to rub any thing on your face."

Naruto blinked. "Let me put this bluntly. Am I your target?"

Sai's eyes widened a little. "You mean do I wish to target the demon fox."

"Yeah, that." Naruto said with a small wave of his hand. "The fox."

For a moment Sai looked as expressionless as ever, then he grinned a huge, fake, grin. "Why would I want to hurt you, Naruto? We are on the same team."

Maybe he'd hit Sai. Naruto checked that thought. It wasn't about _death_. He stood, a little unsteadily, and balled his fist up. "I hate that fake smile. Let me help you remove it from your face."

* * *

"I think it's safe to say the cat is out of the bag now." Asuma again pulled her close, but turned her so her back was pressed up against his chest. "Where are the girls?"

Shino opened the front door where Hinata and Ino, who had been pressed hard against the door, fell inwards with duel shrieks. They landed in a heap at Shino's feet. "Here." He said flatly.

Ino looked up and rubbed her head. "I couldn't hear any thing!"

Pale faced Hinata, with the help of Shino, was standing up. "I think they said they are going to get a puppy." She said in almost a whisper.

"PUPPY!" Kiba yelled. Akamaru barked excitedly next to him and wagged his tail.

"No." Shikamaru smiled gently. "They are going to have a _baby_."

"Oh. Right, that's makes more sense." Kiba chuckled at him self.

Ino scrambled to her feet. "BABY?" She ran up to Asuma and tossed her arms around both him and Kurenai. "Really? A REAL BABY!?"

"They wouldn't want a RUBBER one!" Choji replied with a roll of his eyes as he entered the room with a bag of chips under his arm.

Asuma peeled Ino off and guided her towards her two team mates. "Now now,_ children_, remember what I said." He cast a firm eye around the room then returned to Kurenai.

"Oi." Kiba thought for a moment. "It's a secret until it's confirmed by the Hokage her self?"

"You talked to my boys?" Kurenai asked.

"He did." Kiba confirmed with a small nod of the head. "We know that the union of you two could mean one of you will have to put aside your Shinobi duties and that may be. . ." He faltered, trying to think of the right word.

"It could mean trouble." Choji finished. "You know, if the Hokage thinks she needs all of the ninja battle ready or some thing."

"Exactly." Shino said.

"But what I don't get is what keeping it a secret will do if she's already pregnant." Kiba added. "I mean it's not like you can undo it."

Asuma frowned. "Well. . ." He let his hands slip down to her stomach instinctively, protectively. "Now may not be a good time for. . . It wouldn't be fare to. . . If there's danger to the village I mean. . ."

Kurenai lowered her head and sighed. "Every shinobi may be needed to defend Konoha. After what has happened between the Akastuki and the Sand is is very apparent that the Akastuki are actively hunting the tailed beasts. Naruto is once more here in the village, so they may attack us next. Brining a child in to a world that may be destroyed is not right."

Hinata, eyes glancing down, shook her head. "Oh sensei." Her already too pale complexion lightened. Shino stepped up next to her and let his hand rest on her thin shoulders.

"Don't fret over this."

Silence filled the small apartment for a couple of moments before Kurenai pulled away from Asuma's protective embrace. "I should put these in water."

"I'll do it." Both Kiba and Shino called at once.

"I will do it, you two will brake some thing." Ino said, taking the bouquet.

"I'll show you where she keeps the vases." Hinata offered meekly before leading the blond in to the kitchen. Shikamaru and Choji glanced around uncomfortably before looking at each other. "Don't we have to go pick some thing up for. Team 10?" Choji asked.

"Oh right, Guy Sensei asked us to help him move some stuff to his place from the hospital." Shikamaru stepped towards the door. Before he left he glanced back. "You know I. . ." He frowned and sighed. "I hope it works out."

Asuma nodded grimly. "As do I."

* * *

Jiraya stepped in to the room, knocking as he entered, and found Kakashi sitting with one leg dangling and his face buried in his hands. The sight did not sit well with the Sanin. "Your awake." He said, not knowing what he ought to say. He expected the younger ninja to be asleep still.

Kakashi looked up with dark, hollow eyes, but said nothing.

Jiraya shut the door. "How are you feeling?"

"I need to get out of here." He was lowering his hands, dipping his head. His hair was falling in greasy clumps all around his pinched face. The sharengan was still dark.

"Can you eat solid food?"

He shook his head 'no'.

"What about liquids?"

"I don't know."

"Then what makes you think you should leave?" Jiraya asked. He sat down on the bed opposite Kakashi's. Kakshi did not lift his head to meet Jiraya's eyes.

"She tried to kill me."

"Kakashi. . ."

"Why?" He looked up, anger flickering through his thin face. "What did I do?"

Jiiraya sighed. "You tell me."

* * *

Iruka dipped his head and let the water wash away the crusty shampoo. The water ran down his face and he felt more than a little pain as his back protested to the position. He shifted his feet and felt him self kick his vest. He reached up and guided the water as far up his neck as he could.

The water was warm, soothing. He closed his eyes.

He could feel the water spinning in short drops of three up his neck and to the line of his shirt. Opening his eyes he lifted his head and stared down at the water as if flowed from the faucet. It was clear and shimmered in the flickering argon light. The light gave the room a sickly yellow cast.

He stood, watching the water, for a moment, or possibly an hour, he couldn't tell.

He looked up to his reflection. Hair down and dripping his face was smiling back at him, looking like some sort of aquatic athlete readying for the big race. Iruka blinked slowly and lowered his head a little, tied. The reflection stayed where it was. Cupping his hands Iruka splashed water on his face.

His eyes hurt, it was an illusion. The reflection's hands were still resting on the edge of the sink.

* * *

Shikamaru disappeared through the door with Choji on his heals. Shino bowed quietly and stepped towards the door. "I want to know what happens next." He said.

"Yeah, definitely." Kiba nodded. Akamaru gave Kurenai's fingers a small lick before the pair left, closing the door behind them.

Asuma pulled her close again. "You don't think Tsunade will ask you to . . ."

She interrupted him before he could finish. "First of all I don't KNOW if I really am pregnant. Secondly I want to hear what she has to say before I speculate. However, if I am, and she does not respond _favorably_ to our situation, I will rip her arms off and beat her to death with them."

"Hmm-hmm." Asuma let his chin rest on her head. "You are such a delicate little poppy flower." He twisted around and kissed her on the cheek. "We should go, you don't want to be late."

As he lead her to the door, his arm still around her waist, Ino and Hinata returned to the living room. "Can we come?" Ino asked.

Kurenai looked up at Asuma. "I'd like Hinata to stay near me. I don't mind Ino tagging along. This is important to them both, after all."

He nodded. "All right girls, you may come."

Ino grinned and grabbed Hinata's wrist gently. "See, I told you it'd be OK."

Hinata smiled a little and nodded. "OK." There was no color what soever in her face.

* * *

The water was flowing down, down, up, in drops of three, and in to the drain. He looked up again. He looked so tired.

Iruka rubbed his face again. How long had he been there? Wasn't he supposed to be teaching class today?"

* * *

Yamato grunted, his lips thinly spread and his teeth grit firmly under them. "Naruto."

Moments before the wall had exploded as Sai came bursting through. The dark haired youth turned projectile hurtled through the air until he slammed in to a tree a hundred yards away. He'd flipped and landed feet first, but he still looked a little dazed.

Naruto was standing, fist raised, on the inside of the shattered wall. "What?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?"

"Why did you hit Sai?" Yamato asked, voice firm. "We had a deal."

"We had a Deal we wouldn't fight." Naruto corrected. "We aren't fighting, are we Sai?"

Sai was brushing him self off. "This does not appear to be an altercation between the two of us."

"That doesn't give you the go ahead to. . ."

Naruto lowered his hand and cut Yamato off. "Are we ready to go?"

Yamato and Sakura exchanged looks. "Yeah." Sakura said. "We are ready, if you are."

Sai was stepping up to them, no longer dazed. "I am ready to go."

Yamato clapped his hands together and the house shrank down around Naruto's feet. "You had better behave your self. We'll be at the bridge by ten if we go quickly and quietly."

Naruto walked past them and started along the road. "Then let's go."

In silence the rest followed him.

* * *

The sun was warm and soft as Asuma walked in step with Kurenai. They were far enough apart to not look intimate, but close enough to whisper between them selves. Ino was a few paces behind, respectful and masking her excitement with ease.

Hinata was at her heals, looking less and less comfortable with every passing step. Kurenai glanced behind to check on her and stopped. "Do you want to go back to my apartment?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Is some thing wrong?" Asuma asked.

Kurenai and Hinata stared at him. Ino cleared her throat and stepped up to Asuma. She took his hand in hers. "Come with me."

* * *

The water felt good as it flowed through his hands. It wasn't really warm now, it had been to hot, he turned it off. His hair was drying, looking wild and messy. His reflection looked like he was enjoying the water. There was a grin spreading. Iruka glanced up and the two caught each other's eyes.

Water floated up and twirled around in the flickering light. Iruka lowered his gaze and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure, but a part of him was scared. The other part. . . was. . . he felt

"What do you want from me?"

It felt good.

* * *

Kakashi sagged. "There are things I can not talk about."

"I have the clearance." Jiraya said as lazily as he could. If he seamed to eager he knew the silver haired ninja in front of him would freeze up. They'd been on enough missions together for Jiraya to know Kakashi only spoke when he felt he had to.

The mask was more than a decoration for the last of the Hatake clan.

"This isn't about clearance." He said just above a whisper.

"Is it personal?"

Kakashi didn't reply, he didn't move. Jiraya shifted and pulled the book out of his pocket. "Tsunade is convinced you killed a former team mate. I don't know what to make of that, my self, and really, it was two years ago, if the world didn't end because of that then it never will. Probably."

There was no reply.

"From where I stand, er... sit... let me tell you what I can see. Naruto, reportedly, is not him self. I can confirm this by the horrible drawings he's doodled all over one of the books I gave him to edit. Hellish drawings: the fox eating people and monster running rampant. I've never seen any thing from him like that before."

Kakashi winced, but still did not look up.

"Furthermore, brat, Tsunade tells me that you almost killed your self with toxic Chakra Shock after using some sort of new, nasty Sharengan technique. What I want to know is can use make chakra?"

Kakashi looked up, troubled, and shook his head. "No." His voice was thick and low. Jiraya had seen Kakashi with the same look in his eyes before; twice before. Both times were when his team mates had reportedly been killed. Minato, rest his soul, said he'd seen it once before that just after the incident with Kakashi's father.

The Copy Cat Ninja did not take death well. "All right I'm tiered of playing this game. Tell me who died and what the hell you had to do with it this time." He stood and folded his arms. If teasing it out wouldn't work he'd force it out. Minato would have protested, but that blond brat was dead so there was nothing he could do about it now.

"No one."

"And now for the truth."

Kakashi shrank back, a visible testament to his state of mind. "His drawings." He said unsteadily. "Are of the fox?"

"Yeah. You said he was having nightmares."

Kakashi nodded. "The fox has been tormenting him, but I already told you that." He looked up, a little more life in his eyes, but not much. "He shouldn't be out there right now. He's not stable. He'll get him self killed!"

"You don't really believe that do you?" Jiraya asked. But it was clear, all to clear, he did.

"I need to get out of here." Kakashi said, again. "I have to do some thing. Any thing. I have to bring him back."

* * *

There was a knock at the door and all of the water fell. Iruka stood up straight, scooping up his vest as he did so. Shizune entered and looked him over.

"You look a little better." She offered him a smile. "You OK? You have been in here for a really long time." She looked the rest of the room over and frowned. "Oh, I'll uh. . . I'll have to get a mop." She looked back up at him.

"I'm sorry, I clogged the drain. I was trying to clean up the mess." _Why am I lying to her?_ "I'll help you if you want me too."

"Oh, no. I'll get it. Like I said, I wanted you to go to the hospital. I'm going to give you a thorough check up."

"I feel much better. I do that some times, read all night long. Ibiki used to tell me I'd go blind that way." He could feel him self smiling. Reassuring her he was OK. "I'll go there any way, if you would like me too." He wasn't OK.

"I would." She said with a small nod. "But first I need to make my announcement."

"What was that about again?" He asked, leaning against the sink.

"The Akastuki are in fire country. They are after Naruto."

His fingers tightened around the porcelain. "Do you know where they are?"

She shook her head. "That's what the assembly will be about. Tsunade wants all available ninja to search for them. She'll give a speech and then, I think, she'll order teams out to spot them. I don't think she wants any one to fight them, just, report them."

Iruka stood straight and started to pull his vest back on. As the weight settled on his shoulders he rubbed his face. He realized, possibly for the first time, that his hair was every where. Quickly he finger combed it back. Shaking it a little he finger combed it again and bound it in to a pony tail. It still felt messy, but at least it wasn't every where.

"Didn't you say Naruto was out on a mission?"

She nodded.

"Has any one been sent to warn him?"

"No, not yet."

Moving forward he passed her. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to excuse me. I'll come in for that check up tomorrow maybe."

"Umino-san."

He opened the main office door. "I'm sorry about the mess as well. Forgive me." He stepped through the door and shut it gently. Anger was once more rolling through him. This time it wasn't focused on the Copy Cat Ninja.

* * *

Asuma rubbed his chin and took a deep breath. "But that's just a rumor, right?" He looked back at Hinata. The girl was a thin ghost of her self.

Ino bit her lower lip and followed his gaze. "I don't know the truth, but I have seen Guy Sensei at the Hospital every day."

"Choji and Shika. . ." Asuma said distractedly. "They said they had to help him move things from the hospital to his house."

She nodded. "They did."

Giving his blond student a small pat on the back Asuma returned to Kurenai's side. She was stroking Hinata's hair. "Is it true?"

Hinata buried her face in her sensei's shirt. "Asuma. . ." Kurenai said gently. "It's really none of your business. Not unless you've been approached by Guy or Hinata."

Glancing down at the young Hyuga he dipped hie head in a small bow. "Forgive me, princess."

"Lets just keep going, OK?"

"Yeah, OK."

* * *

Naruto knelt next to Sakura under the trees. The bridge was longer than he thought it would be. Shrouded in dark robes a lone figure stood leaning against the hand rail on one side.

Yamato turned to Sai. "Can you read him from here?"

Sai was painting on a slip of paper. When he was done he looked up. "Yes, but it will take a moment." A fleck that looked some what like a gnat lifted off the paper and flew towards the figure.

Naruto watched it for as long as he could until it was to far away to see.

* * *

Kurenai gave Asuma a small weak smile as he held the door open for her. Entering they looked down the hall towards the reception desk and spotted one green and orange clad jounin walking towards them.

Guy flashed a smile but it didn't reach his eyes. "Ah, and how are you two doing on this _glorious_ day?"

Hinata clung to Kurenai. The moment Guy spotted her he stopped in his tracks.

"Hinata." He said, tempering his voice to a softer tone. She stepped back, tears filling her eyes.

"Hinata!" Kurenai tried top grab her, but she bolted through the doors.

* * *

"You know, Kakashi, you aren't the only one with student problems." Jiraya sat back down.

Kakashi looked at him, frowning. "I doubt any one has problems like Naruto."

"Every one has inner demons, ya' know." Jiraya pulled the book out and flipped to the most ugly drawing that had been scribbled along the edges of the text. "I'm sure you heard the Rumor about that Hyuga boy." The fox was eating people alive.

"Neji." Kakshi corrected politely. "He's Might Guy's student." Kakashi shuddered. "I haven't heard any thing sense Guy _brought_ me here."

Jiraya smiled in spite of him self at the flicker of indignation he saw in Kakashi's expression. "I heard about that."

"When I am out of here, Chakra or no, I will be having a _'word_' with him."

Jiraya lowered the book. "Go easy on him, Kakashi."

Curiosity flickered in to the dull eyes. "Why should I?" He asked, sounding a bit piqued.

Jiraya felt his smile fade. "Because, as I understand it, his student tried to kill him self just after every one came back."

What ever light had gathered in Kakashi's eyes vanished in an instant. "_He __**what**__!_?"

"Like I said, Kakashi." Jiraya stood and stepped up to him. "You are not the only one with student problems."

All of the color was draining from his face. "Is. . . Is he OK?"

"Neji? I have no idea. I know he's alive."

"I meant Guy." He said, softly, all the irritation was gone.

"I have no idea." Jiraya admitted. "Keep in mind this is just a rumor, but I know Neji HAS been in the hospital for several days."

Kakashi sagged again and shook his head. The lost look was back. "I had no idea."

"We can't protect every one all the time. All we can do, kiddo, is do the best we can when we can. No one expects more than that."

Kakashi looked up, eyes nearly pleading. "He's alive though?"

"The boy is alive."

Kakashi closed his eyes. There was still no color in his face.

"Lay down and sleep. When you can keep solid food down I'll spring you from this place. Till then just rest, OK?"

He nodded. "OK."

"And as for Naruto."

Kakashi looked up gain. There was a small wisp of hope. Jiraya smiled, Kakashi still trusted him. "He'll be OK. I know he's going through a rough patch, we all are. What happened to Garra was a sobering reminder to all of us. But we'll get through this. We always do, and we always will."

* * *

"It's reached him." Sai said after a moment. He lifted his painting book and began to work with his brush and ink. When he was done he turned it around and held it up. "Do you know this man?"

Naruto's eyes widened. "That's. . ."

"Kabuto!" Sakura finished.

Anger, hot and unbridled, flashed through Naruto's mind. _Kill him_. "OK."

"OK what?" Yamato asked. Naruto tuned to the robed figure and glared in silence.

* * *

"You haven't seen him." Kakashi said quietly. "He's not the same."

Jiraya looked once more at the drawings before reluctantly turning the open page to Kakashi. "So I've noticed."

Kakashi looked at the drawings, for once not tempted to peek at the words written in the new book. They were a horrible grotesque massacre of humans and animals bu the jaws of a flaming nine tailed fox. The words _die_ and _kill_ were scribbled all over every thing.

"He needs to be called back." Panic crept in to Kakashi's mind as he pulled away from the page. "Before it;s to late."

"He's safer out there right now. If the Akastuki are looking for him they'll come here first, not to a secret meeting place for one of their own spies."

"No, you don't _GET_ it." Kakashi snapped. "You think you get it, but you don't get it. He's going insane!" He jabbed a finger in to the pages. "That is not just a nightmare, that is the fox trying to get out. THAT isn't Naruto!"

* * *

Naruto stood and dropped his pack. _Kill him_. "Sakura chan."

She stood, worrying her lip. "What?"

"Stay out of my way."

"What are you do. . .?" Before she could finish he was racing towards the hooded figure.

Yamato cursed and worked on his hand seals. But Naruto was already to far out of his range.

* * *

Iruka jumped from tree to tree, feeling the hot sun through the brakes in the shade. It felt good to run, but as good as it felt anger was burning away at almost any other feeling. Only one stood out stronger than the anger.

Fear.


	10. Promises

My word program told me this was 24 pages long. All I can say to that is I have been waiting to write THIS chapter since about chapter three.

Two songs for this chapter pop in to my mind: For Iruka - '_Live Again_' By: Sevendust, For Naruto - _'Breath' _By: Braking Benjamin. (EDIT:I just listened to another song for the first time... Sevendust's _'Face to Face'_. It works better than _'Live Again'_, but be warned: it's **not** a song for young people.)

Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Promises**

By: TT Snim

* * *

_War waxes and wains like the tireless phases of the moon. Two of my children have lived and died never knowing what peace feels like. The war is over and my students' eyes have closed forever, they will never see the fruits of their labours. They have only seen the darkness above them. . ._

_My last student is still alive, but he has blinded him self to the light. He lives in darkness, tied to his dead team mates, tied to war, tied to death. He sits sullenly at their grave for hours on end, seeing nothing but his hopeless, guilt ridden, memories. . ._

* * *

Jiraya was taken aback by the sudden outburst from the normally placid and lazy jounin before him. Like the mask that covered his face Kakashi Hatake's attitude and manners were a well placed barrier between him self and the world around him.

"You just don't understand!"

Jiraya looked down at the scribbled drawings Naruto had made and let all that Kakashi had said mill through his mind. Kakashi had used the sharingan until it had nearly killed him. The fox was giving Naruto nightmares, nightmares so bad it had caused him to seek out Kakashi despite his bed bound condition. Nightmares so bad Kakashi had felt the need to use the sharingan even though he could hardly pull the energy together to make even the smallest of jitsus.

A cold wave of fear hit Jiraya and he looked down at the angry eyes of the younger ninja. "It's trying to get loose while he's asleep, isn't it?"

Kakashi's whole body tensed. "Worse." His eyes narrowed. "It's showing him it's memories. It's trying to force him to release the seal or go mad from guilt."

* * *

Guy tried to smile, but couldn't quite pull his face in to the expression. There was little light in his eyes and his cheeks held a hollow cast to them. Even his hair seemed to lack it's usual luster.

"Guy. . ." Kurenai said softly, but he lifted a hand silencing her.

"Don't worry your self over it."

Asuma cleared his throat. "Guy, I've heard a rumor. . ." A chime sounded and Shizune's voice drifted through the air.

"Attention, attention all Shinobi of Leaf: The Hokage wishes for you all to gather for a special meeting in twenty minutes under the Hokage tower. There will be a class B mission for all who qualify. Thank you."

The three ninja glanced from one to another for a moment before Guy turned on his heal and walked away.

"Might-san, please." Kurenai called after him. He gave her a short wave with out turning around.

"I must speak with my students. I'll see you both at the meeting."

* * *

Trees were every where, swaying with a gentile breeze under the sapphire blue sky, creating a lofty world in which Iruka marveled as he navigated. Here, away from the people, away from the cares and aggravations of people, his mind felt calm. He paused and took a deep breath on one of the sturdy branches. All about him, like sleeping giants, the trees stood stately and silent. Birds sung in harmony and small creatures went abut their lives heedless of his presence.

Here he could almost relax. Almost.

Some where out there Naruto was in danger.

He leaped on ward, trying to pick up the trail of the four, but the trees had swallowed them whole. That was not surprising to the Paper Work Ninja. He'd read the reports about who the new temporary leader of Team Seven was, he knew the man's bond to the forest and connection to the trees was rooted on blood. The man who had the blood on the first Hokage running through his veins would not allow the forest to divulge the Team's secrets to any one. At least not to any one who didn't know how to look for the friendly signs the ANBU wood user would leave behind. Signs only the Hokage her self should know of.

He bound off of one spry branch and through a hollow before coming to a clearing on the edge of a grate lake. Under the sun it's surface sparkled like thousands of diamonds, bit this did not catch his eye. Two twigs, right at his feet, were curled around each other like two people embracing. One leaf at the end of each small stick looked like two heads bowed together. Iruka touched the small unnatural twist before dropping to the grassy land below.

They had been this way only hours before. A bridge was to the north, while a road was to the south. Iruka walked towards the water and let the tall grass slide under his fingers as he tried to decide what way to go. There didn't seem to be any one there. No people, no children, no fighting.

No animals.

Fear gripped him as he realized the silence was unnatural. Wearily he backed up to the protective shadows of the trees and waited. There was nothing, no bird song, no insects, only the bright sun and the entrancing water. It was a dazzling lake and he found him self staring at it for a long moment. It was amazing.

It was inviting.

From some where near the tree line some thing moved. causing him to look away from the liquid enticement. He leaped up to the trees and watched as two figures started to emerge, two figures with black robes decorated with red clouds.

"Akastuki."

All of a sudden the watter was the very last thing on his mind.

* * *

Tsunade looked down at the notes in her hands and read them over one last time. The matter of Kakashi killing a former team mate seemed like a distant unpleasant dream now that the nightmare of the Akastuki attacking the village was a reality. She tapped the notes neat against the desk before tucking them in to her pocket along with a couple of pens.

She had letters to write latter. She needed to speak to Garra, the Kazakage, about the threat looming before them. While Leaf and Sand had been bitter enemies Naruto had almost single handedly bridged a gap made of blood and hatred.

She wanted Jiraya next to her as she addressed the people. His presence as the one who had brought the information to her would send home the importance and gravity of the situation. Though, she suspected, even if he weren't there the events at Sand would be enough to convince every man woman and child of the threat. Every one knew who their next target would be.

Standing tall she took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to find the calm with in she hoped she had. A rough knock at the door interrupted her momentary meditation before she could find her center.

"Tsunade!" The door swung open and Shizune stood, looking oddly panicked.

"What is it? What's happened?"

She entered all the way and shut the door tightly. "It's about Umino-san. I think some thing is wrong with him." She ran a hand through her hair. "He came looking for you last night talking about how he didn't think he was him self and he had a head ache. Then I found him reading reports in the file room just a little while ago, but he looked crazy. He had shampoo dried in his hair and this strange look in his eyes. I had him wash up in my privet bathroom and told him to let me look him over but he ran off." She looked up at Tsunade with wide worried eyes. "I think he went to find Naruto."

Tsunade cursed and folded her arms. "He won't be able to catch up with Naruto before they reach the spy, so he can't mess up the mission."

"He's sick." Shizune said with trepidation. "Some thing is wrong with him."

Tsunade frowned. "Right now we don't have time to worry about him. Sick or crazy or what ever he'd want us to focus on Naruto right now."

"Well, yes but..."

"Have you sent word of my request for the gathering?"

She nodded. "Every one will be there."

Tsunade stepped around the frazzled aid. "Good. We'll deal with Iruka latter."

"Yes ma'am."

Tsunade tugged the door open and stepped out. She had only minutes to find the pervert sage.

* * *

Naruto felt the dirt under him give slightly as he charged. He could hear his voice ripping free in a ragged scream of rage. The world was blurring and the figure up ahead on the bridge was twisting, dropping the black shroud and bracing it's self.

Kabuto.

The rage skewered every fiber of his being and a yellow haze clouded his vision. The dirt changed to wood as he hit the bridge. His feat thundered as his mind was slammed with the irrepressible lust for blood. A small flash of panic flared up as his rational self tried to stop, but it was swamped with hatred.

A glint of light flashed over the silver haired man and Naruto gave up. Chakra exploded out from around of him, red, then yellow, then gone. His feet continued over the wood and he lifted a clawed hand.

"DIE!"

He struck and grinned as a ribbon of red erupted from Kabuto's arm. The other ninja cried out in pain and jumped back unable to withstand the energy and force of the attack. Naruto landed in a crouch and rebounded again forward towards him. This time the other ninja, glasses knocked off his shocked face, kicked up hard. Unable to avoid the blow while in the air Naruto felt the foot land solid against his chest and a burst of energy from the steel toed boot sent him up and flying over the had rail.

He twisted and braced him self for the watery landing.

* * *

_I can not reach him. Nothing I say, nothing I do, can give him any hope. He's lost. I must move on or I too will return to the darkness. I can not dwell in the past of war and blood shed._

_I have been made Hokage today. I am Hokage in the dawn of a new era of peace. I must look forward to the new era, hope in the next generation of children. Hope in the one fact, the one spark of light I have before me. . ._

…

* * *

Jiraya sighed, frustrated,and rubbed the back of his neck. "What did you do to him? How did you use your Sharengan? Did you use it ON him?"

Kakashi looked away.

"You did." Jiraya reached out and grabbed Kakshi's thin chin in his hands and turned his head so that they were again looking at each other.

"Don't you DARE take this on all by your self, kid. That is a demon you are up against. The whole village couldn't stop it. You can't just stop it. No one can just stop it. You hear me?"

Kakashi glowered up with two dark eyes. "I'm the only one who can. . ."

"No you are NOT." Jiraya squeezed the chin a little causing Kakashi to wince. "_NO ONE_ can take on that demon alone. No one."

* * *

Of all the people in the world why did he have to be the only one who could take on a demon alone? Yamato formed hand signs as he ran, mindful of the battered ninja still sprawled on the bridge, before two clones appeared next to him. Kittens, with spiked collars, he wouldn't have minded if he were the one who had to fight those. A little tuna, a small drop of cream, life would have bean easy. Naruto was screaming and bounding on all fours up the sheer rock wall face of the cliff. Chakra was whipping out of his body from every point like serpents ready to strike.

"Hey, Kabuto, right?" He asked as he stepped between the downed man and the oncoming blond.

"Yeah." The spy gasped as he clutched his broken arm. Blue chakra was flowing from his shaking fingertips.

"Word of advice: Don't move." Naruto was almost up the wall, his clawed hands scarring the rocks them selves.

"OK." Kabuto rasped. "He's all yours."

Yes, he was.

The blond exploded up and landed with a scream on to the ground and charged. Yamato formed more hand signs. Wood erupted from the bridge and engulfed the rampaging teen, halting him in his tracks. Screaming and thrashing Naruto clawed at the wooden straight jacket as the two clones walked up to him. He stopped clawing and snarled at the one to his right.

Yamato sighed. "Stay where you are."

"I don't think he's listing." Kabuto grunted.

"I was talking to you."

"Ah."

Yamato walked up to the snarling, foaming youth and formed one more hand sign. Naruto's necklace gem glowed for a second before his whole body went limp. Yamato sighed and reached out and touched the blue Chrystal. It seemed familiar some how, but he wasn't sure why.

* * *

_I will be come a father and I will do any thing to make sure my son will never know what it's like to loose his friends to war, to hate, or death. I will protect my son at any cost. I will protect him as I have failed to protect Kakashi, Rin and Obito._

…

* * *

Kakashi twisted his head free violently. Silence drifted between them like the smoke of a released clone. It was heavy and thick and Jiraya found it almost hard to breath.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

The look Kakashi shot him looked like it was laced with poison. "He's out there, loosing his mind, and the Akastuki are after him right this minute. I need to find him."

"You have to trust Tsunade. She didn't send him out with out backup. She loves that boy."

"She tried to kill me." Kakashi said coldly. "I don't trust her. Not with my team. Not any more."

"You are the one who can't be trusted. All you have to do is answer some danm questions!" Jiraya growled and rubbed his face. "There's nothing you should feel like you can't trust me with. You KNOW that. You know I'd never hurt you or Naruto. I love that boy like a grandson."

Kakashi stared for a moment before his eyes flicked away.

"I know, as much as you fought it, as much as you despise growing close to people, you love that kid too. You tried to keep your self as far from caring about him as you could because of Minato, but you couldn't. If you love him, Kakashi, you have to let me help you."

Ever so slightly the shoulders sagged.

"For get the hag, Tsunade, forget what happened two years ago, forget every thing out side of the last week. Just between you and I tell me what happened."

"It won't leave these walls?" His voice was almost a whisper.

"I promise you no one will ever know."

For a long moment Kakashi sat, tense, be fore he sighed and ran his finger through his dirty hair. "OK."

* * *

Iruka shifted where he was as he studied the two men emerging from the tree line. He shuffled trough his memories trying to find any scrap of information he had on them. To his surprise report after report started to filter through his mind, each one holding a tiny scrap of a rumor or a description.

What the memories told him was not good.

They both were reported to have mortal abilities, and the one with the scythe was supposedly able to kill with out fighting, some how. Iruka backed away, back in to the trees, back to the safety. . . and backed up in to some thing both hard and soft.

"Hey, Kazuko, looks like we have a little leaf ninja spying on us."

Iruka swallowed hard and turned to back towards the clearing. "Ah, hello there. I did not see you, please forgive. . ."

A fist hammered in to his jaw sending agony through his head. He stumbled and lost his footing as he curled away. With out a strong place to step and to dazed to gain a grip with chakra he fell.

All the way down he could hear the one with the scythe laughing.

"LORD JAKEN WILL TAIST BLOOD TODAY!"

* * *

Naruto moaned and opened his eyes. The worlds was blurry for a moment before he saw his target struggling to stand. Kabito was wobbling slightly, but still alive. Some how Naruto was glad for that. Turning he saw Yamoto hovering near by looking stoic.

"I'm going to let you go."

"Don't." He hung his head, realizing what had happened. The seal was in little tatters, only holding on by threads of thin chakra. One more time, one more loss of control, and it would all be over. "I'm a monster." He felt tears bubbling up in the corners of his eyes. "I'm a monster! I'M A HORRIBLE MONSTER!"

Kabuto stepped forward, rolling his shoulder. "Naruto?" He picked up his glasses as he took another step forward.

"Stay where you are." Yamato warned.

Kabuto stopped and glanced around. "Sakura-chan is here too. And some one else."

Naruto could see Yamato's face shifting in to a small glare as the world skewed with unshed tears. "Don't hurt them." He pleaded. "Just let them go, please, don't hurt my team."

Both Kabuto and Yamato stared down at him. Kabuto reached up and rubbed the back of his head. "I hadn't planned on fighting any of you." He gave an easy smile. "But I will if you don't leave me alone."

"We have come to capture Sasori's spy. Are you that spy?" Yamato asked.

"Yeah, I suppose I am." He pushed his glasses up and ginned. "We'll have to fight then." Swiftly he pulled a Kunai out and spun it. "Sorry, Naruto-kun, Looks like I'll have to take on your team."

Naruto closed his eyes and felt the tears streaming down his face. "Kill me."

When no one spoke he opened his eyes again. Yamato was still standing with a stony expression, but Kabuto looked puzzled.

"What?"

"You heard me." Naruto lifted his head. "I'm a monster, you have to kill me before I loose control again!" He fought the wooden cage, but it was to strong for him. "DO IT!"

A hand landed on his shoulder and he looked over to the side. Sai was looking at him with cold dark eyes. In his hand was the picture book open to the painting from the night before.

"This is you, Naruto." He smiled a wide, plastic, smile. "You are not the monster."

"Sai. . ."

Sai stepped forward and shut the book. "I will fight you."

"I will fight you too!" Sakura stepped up next to Sai.

"Looks like you are out numbered." Yamato rolled up his sleeves. "I'd advise you to come quietly."

Kabto glanced around and took a step back. "I see, these are bad odds."

"You can do it, Kabuto-Kun." A oft voice drifted over the bridge. Naruto looked over the long wooden span and gaped as Orohimaru approached.

"Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto bounced back and knelt behind him. "I thought you were training Sauske."

The white skinned Sannin grinned and glanced down with a slight tilt of his head. "I just got the report that Sasori was dead and I wanted to check up on you." He licked his teeth.

"Thank you, Lord Orochimaru."

Naruto felt anger bubbling up again. ". . .Sasuke. . ."

"Ah, Naruto." Orochimaru smiled. "It's been a few years, hasn't it?"

Suddenly the wood felt brittle. Naruto strained and listened to the satisfying sound of cracking and splintering. "I take it back."

"Take what back?" Yamato asked.

"I want to live, so I can _kill him_." Rage flowed and he let it wash over him this time.

* * *

Iruka slammed in to the ground hard and yelped. Stunned he rolled in to a ball and tried to listen for any sign of the enemy. There was only the horrible deathly silence all around him and the soothing lapping of the lake water. Daring to open his eyes he saw feet coming his way, muffled by the soft grass.

He tried to get up in to a defensive position, but his vision was swimming. Before he could get to his feet a fist grabbed him by the vest and lifted him up.

"Kazuko, do we have tome to play with this one?"

"He doesn't look like he'd be very interesting for you. Just gut him and lets move on."

"He does look easy, but still. . ." The man grinned and toyed with his scythe. ". . . I need to do a blood sacrifice some time today and we could still be hard pressed to find any one else sneaking like we are."

Iruka looked over to the other man who was leaning against a tree. "Fine, but do this quickly."

"All right YEAH!" The white haired Ninja lifted Iruka further and grinned. "I'll bet you scream like a girl."

Gathering his chakra Iruka tried to smile. His mind drifted to the silver haired bane of his existence, Hatake Kakashi, and wondered how that man had been able to kill one of these lunatics. Suddenly he was glad, so very glad, Kakashi was Naruto's teacher.

"You know. . ." He managed, "I probably do scream like a girl."

The Akastuki ninja sneered. "Oh? I'm going to enjoy every one of those screams."

"Well." Iruka squirmed and readied him self. "The thing is, I kick like one too."

"What do you. . ." The ninja started, but Iruka slammed his foot between the other ninja's legs cutting him off. He was dropped with a satisfying screech from the enemy and landed in a crouch. He turned and ran as fast as he could. Before he could get any distance however the other one appeared in front of him.

"That amused me." He said dryly. "So I will reward you by allowing you to live for a little in agony while instead of just killing you off instantly."

"I HATE YOU!" The scythe welding ninja squeaked. "You don't touch him he's MINE!"

Iruka started to back away, and gather chakra again, but he was grabbed once more by the vest. "Oh like you can do any thing right now."

Curled in a quivering ball the white haired ninja gave the masked ninja the finger.

Iruka had almost as much chakra as he could manage gathered in his palms when a fist came flying towards him. He lost what he gathered as once more he was punched. This time he was sent flying back. He saw the lake looming up behind him and braced for the impact. The second ninja was in the air as well, soring after him.

He folded his arms defensively and closed his eyes, hovering almost for a moment, as he thought of the blond youth he wanted to see just once more.

"I'm sorry Naruto!" He tensed, ready for the impact of the lake.

* * *

Tsunade knocked and opened the door to Kakashi's room. Both ninja looked up with deeply troubled looks. Jiraya stood and rubbed his palms on his knees.

"All right, why don't you try to sleep, OK?"

Kakashi nodded slowly and looked down at his own hands. He was sitting cross legged on the bed with his hands folded between his knees. "OK."

"Tomorrow I'll come and we'll see how well you can eat. If you can keep food down I'll spring you from this place."

Tsunade frowned. "He's not ready too. . ."

"Hey, if he can keep food down then why not?" Jiraya asked. Kakashi looked up with sullen eyes.

"I'll have to clear it." She said, stepping back. "I'd like you to come with me to the meeting."

"Very well." Jiraya reached out and clapped Kakashi on the arm. "Remember what I said about that brat, all right?"

He nodded.

"Good, now tuck your self in and I'll be back." He let go and joined Tsunade at the door as Kakashi untangled his legs and started to adjust the covers. Jiraya placed his hand on the small of her back and lead her out. Quietly he shut the door.

Tsunade pulled away and stopped him. "Did he tell you any thing?"

"Yeah, he did."

"What did he say?"

Jiraya hesitated for a moment as he rubbed his palms together. "Well, You see, I promised him I wouldn't tell. . ." He flashed a catty grin.

"Spill it."

He hesitated for a moment before sighing, looking serious. "He's going to hate me for this."

"If it can help keep Naruto safe then we'll deal with Hatake Kakashi's _feelings_ latter on."

"Right." He cleared his throat. "The Kyuubi is using Naruto's dreams to try and torment him or some thing." He pulled out a book, his new edition, and opened the pages up for her then turned it around. Scrawled in red like blood were images of the fox devouring people whole. "Kakashi is convinced Naruto is loosing his mind. I'm starting to wonder about it my self."

Tsunade took the book and thumbed through it. Page after page was carnage and horror in ink; like snap shots of the real event. All of the anger and venom in his continence for the last few days suddenly made much more sense. "So these drawings are what he sees in his sleep?" She shook her head. "No wonder he sought out some one to sleep with."

"That's not all." Jiraya's voice sounded grave.

Looking up she caught the pain in Jiraya's eyes and felt a little fear for what more he had to say. "What else?"

"Kakashi said while he's having the nightmares the fox's chakra leaks out through Naruto's. That's what Kakashi was doing that put him in to shock, he used the sharengan to try and suppress the chakra. You know as well as I do how well that worked out for our Copy Cat Brat."

She bit her thumb nail and took a breath as the information settled. "We have to call him back. From that mission."

"I know."

"Why? Why didn't they just TELL ME?" She growled. She'd been so angry with them both, now thinking back to Naruto's dull eyes. . . She looked down at the drawings. . . he was going through hell and she'd nearly killed the one person who he trusted to fix it. Her stomach twisted.

"They are both afraid you'll lock him up."

"I will lock him up." At least until they could find away to reseal the fox. "I will." Shook her head. "There is no way I can't do that. You know I have to."

"I know." He said quietly. "I just wish there was another way."

"Not even Yamato can keep it suppressed indefinitely."

"Who?"

She looked up and blinked. "I assigned Tenzo to Team 7."

Jiraya's eyes widened. "Him? I forgot about him." He nodded and slowly a small smile formed. "Maybe the kid will be OK after all. As soon as he's back thought. . ."

"As soon as he's back I'm putting a leash on him." Tsunade swallowed the cold feeling creeping through her. "He'll hate me for it, but I have no choice. At least not right now. Once he's safe we can try to find a way to fix this."

Silence drifted between them after that, thick and dark, like a suffocating blanket. She closed her eyes and snapped the book shut. The anger and the guilt flowing though her veins was icy cold. What she had done to Kakashi she knew had been the right thing. What she had to do to naruto now she also knew was the right thing. She gnawed on her nail till her thumb hurt.

"We'd better get going, the meeting. . ." Jiraya's soft voice pulled her to the present.

"Yes, right." She let her arms drop as she pushed back her feelings. "Lets go."

* * *

Yamato lifted his hands to reform the signs, but Naruto was free again before the leader could manage it. He felt his feet hit the bridge and he charged again. Kabuto rushed forward ready to protect Orochimaru with his life

With his life it would be then. Naruto could still smell his blood and it drew him forward like the smell of raman. He leaped in to the air and was mirrored by the silver haired ninja. Drawing chakra in to his fists he struck as hard as he could. Kabuto crossed his arms and absorbed the blow. They flew apart and Kabuto landed first and broke in to a run.

Naruto twisted and rolled so that he'd land on all fours. Wood was racing for him, but a tail slammed the timber away like it was straw. With the enemy in sight he charged again, this time keeping low.

"NARUTO!" Sakura's voice rang clear through the air and he faltered, stumbling on some of the broken wood. Kabuto took full advantage of the missed step and slammed his booted foot in to Naruto's face.

With a scream of rage and agony Naruto sailed back and bounced past his team and skidded in the dirt. He could see Yamato again working hand signs, but in a flash Orocimaru was coiled around him in a serpentine grasp.

"Now, now. . . Hey, it's you!" He grinned. "Aren't you Tenzo?"

Yamato stiffened and for a moment Naruto saw terror flicker through his face. The fear smelled good. Standing Naruto looked around for his silver haired pray. It was walking towards him, like a lamb to the slaughter.

"Die." Naruto growled. Feelings flooded trough him, feelings that weren't his own. Hatred was strong, but an urge to fight or flee was mixing in just as strongly. Last time he'd fought Kabuto the twisted medical nin had severed the chakra strings to his heart.

Naruto grinned. That was years ago. He was bigger now. He took a step forward. He was stronger now. Another step, faster this time. He was less willing to try and save the spy, more willing to. . .

"Some thing is different about you, Naruto-kun." Kabuto said, twirling a kunai. From behind him the rest of Team seven were engaged in a one sided battle between the sannin and them selves. "Some thing I'm not sure I like."

Now he was more willing to give in to the monster with in. "Oh, but I like it." He snarled, feeling a grin plaster it's self over his face. "I like the smell of your blood." He was walking forward now. "I like the thought of spilling it."

The fight stilled behind them. "Kabuto. . ." Orochimaru called. "Stop."

The silver haired ninja froze and concern washed over his face. "Lord Orohimaru?"

Every one was staring at him. Staring at the energy flowing through him. Staring at the look on his face. He smiled. "I'm going to _kill you all_." At that he lunged.

* * *

Kakashi felt exhausted, mentally and physically exhausted. The world was blurry around the edges of his vision and his body felt stiff and sore. But he felt lighter some how despite the fatigue. He rubbed his face as he settled in to the bed trying to let his mind relax, but the image of Jiraya's face lingered before him. The hoary headed sage had been relentless for the truth. At first Kakashi feared he'd been in league with Tsunade, but you could not face the affection the old man had developed for Naruto.

Kakashi knew what that affection felt like.

Taking a breath he closed his eyes. Naruto needed more help than he could give him, that was true. Jiraya had been right, taking on the fox alone had been foolish. But what choice did he have then? He wasn't sure telling all to Jiraya had been the right thing to do, but at the very least he knew the old pervert loved Naruto and could see past the nine-tails.

He loved him, he said, like a grandson.

Kakashi had to trust him. The reality of his actions were only now settling in after so many days of stupor and drugs and sleep. His body was depleted and even after nearly three days of solid rest there wasn't a single flicker of chakra with in him. The sharengan was gone, and he knew it might be for good this time. It all meant one horrifying thing, he could no longer protect his student.

He'd trained him well after all and after spending nearly three years with the Toad Sage Naruto was stronger and smarter than ever, so perhaps he'd be all right. Kakashi puled his hands away from his face and started up at the ceiling. The Akastuki were after him and he was chasing down one of their spies. Kakashi had not survived in to his mid twenties by underestimating the situation. Naruto was in trouble, fox or no.

Jiraya had to keep his promise, if Tsunade found out then Kakashi could only imagine what would happen. She'd have him sealed away, and that would enrage him. To keep him calm he could only imagine the solution would be to sedate him. Having been drugged him self only a hand full of hours before he knew how terrible of a fate that would be. It was a horrible mind numbing prison to be trapped in. To think of Naruto laying helpless and bound from his own people made him shudder.

A knock snapped his mind from the images of the fate of his student. Before he could call out the door was opening a little. He expected Jiraya, or possibly Tsunade, but the man that entered took him by surprise.

"Guy?"

The green clad man offered a small smile. "Kakashi." The smile faded quickly and Kakashi remembered what Jiraya had told him.

"How is Neji?"

Guy's face fell in to a dark shadow. Silently he entered and closed the door behind him. "Even trapped in this room immobile and near death you know what is happening in this village." He smiled sadly. "I would expect nothing less from my eternal rival."

* * *

Asuma held tight to Kurenai's arm as they made their way through the throng of people. He looked her over and noted her calm expression. He hoped he looked calm because he certainly didn't feel calm. She reached up and gave his hand a squeeze.

"Deep breaths." She whispered.

"I'm I that out of it?"

"Mmm-hmm." She nodded stoutly. "We are in public, sweety, so try not to walk around with your mouth open."

He snapped his jaw shut and found she was taking the lead. "Sorry."

She patted his hand. "Shh, Lady Tsunade is about to speak."

Up above them Tsunade was ascending the steps, head held high, face set in a stony mask of determination. Behind her was the Toad Sage, Jiraya. Together they made an impressive looking duo. "Both of them, this must be important."

Tsunade stepped up to her podium and took a breath as she made eye contact with the masses. She looked as strong as the stone figureheads behind her. Strong like the land, forged with the will of fire "My fellow Shinobi," her voice rang out clearly. "It is still fresh in all our minds the resent attack on our neighbor, the Village Hidden in the Sand."

Whispers flowed through the people for a moment until she lifted her hand silencing them all.

"It is no secret that Naruto Uzamaki with the help of a sand elder revived Garra, the Kazakage of Sand."

Some one in the crowd clapped while another whistled. Asuma recognized the whistle as a cheer call from the Inzuka clan. Others started to take up the cheer as well and more shouts could be heard. He glanced down at Kurenai who was smiling.

"They love him." She said, looking around.

"Why shouldn't they?"

"GO NARUTO!" Asuma chuckled at the familiar voice of Choji.

Tsunade, smiling faintly, lifted both hands. "Quiet down, please."

It took a moment, but every one fell silent again.

"According to the research of Jiraya two members of the Akastuki are headed towards us for the sole purpose of capturing the Kyuubi. In order to do so they must take and kill Naruto."

A rumble of anger rolled trough the crowd.

"My orders are for you do search, in teams of four, the whole of the land for one hundred miles around the village. If and when you find them DO NOT ENGAGE the enemy. Note their location, report it, and wait for instructions. Do Not Engage The Enemy!" She glared. "If you do find your self unavoidably in battle against them then your best bet is to try and escape and fall back on your orders. Your mission is to locate, report,and wait for instructions. I will not allow our village to suffer the same fate as Sand. Naruto saved the Kazakage, but if Naruto falls who can save him?"

A hushed whisper flowed through the masses. Asuma felt Kurenai's fingers lace in to his. "I have to talk to her."

"Are your instructions clear?" Tsunade's voice cut through the din. A hundred voices called back with a resounding 'YES'. "Good. Go. Lets show these Akastuki bastards not to mess with the Village Hidden in the Leaves!" A hundred voices roared out.

Kurenai let go of his hand. "Good luck, come home safe."

"I. . ." He pulled on her wrist and brought her close. "I love you." Bodies were rushing past them, running and leaping and shouting. She held still in his embrace.

"I love you more." Gently she kissed his cheek and pulled away. In two steps she was swallowed up by the throng.

"Asuma Sensei!"

He turned and waved to his team who were standing above him on a roof top. "Coming!"

* * *

Naruto leaped and soared high above the medical ninja. Power throbbed through his body and he found the short flight above the enemy enthralling. Kabuto leaped after him, meeting him in mid air. Naruto coiled and, once the silver haired man was next to him, struck out landing a solid kick to the man's head. He dissolved in a gush of water.

"Clone." Naruto growled. He flipped and rushed back to the ground with claws out and fangs at the ready. Two tails were swaying behind him, keeping him balanced. The moment he landed he was off again, following the sent of fear. Kabuto was retreating to the safety of Orochimaru.

The serpent Sannin was standing some how looking both grim and amused at the same moment. Naruto found the look disgusting and wanted to rip it off the porcelain face. Wood sprung up from nowhere between him and his prey and he had to twist and dodge at a brake neck speed to avoid the planks sailing for him. Fast as each wooden artifice was he was faster. Two under foot and one over head, thick as tree branches, snapped like twigs against his claws. Orochimaru was looming before him.

He could almost taste the man's throat.

* * *

Guy stood where he was, looking half like he wanted to bolt back out through the door, and half like he wanted to cry. Kakashi couldn't remember a time when the man before him held his tears back, and he'd NEVER seen the Green Beast of Konoha look like he wanted to flee.

"Sit down." He said softly, not wishing to chase Guy away with a harsh tone. As unforgivable as the piggy back ride was all those days ago Kakashi had no anger towards his self appointed rival.

"I really shouldn't stay." Guy said. "I just wanted to ask you a question."

"Oh?" Kakashi tilted his head as he sat up again. The room spun a little, but he ignored it and smiled. "Go ahead."

"Well. . ." Guy rubbed his hands together, kneading the joints of his fingers nervously. ". . . I really shouldn't. . ."

"Sit." Kakashi said firmly. "You already got me up."

Guy nodded sullenly and trod over to the other bed. He sat down, looking stiff and proper, before he took a deep breath. "Naruto came and spoke with you, didn't he?"

Kakashi hadn't expected this question. ". . .Yes. . ."

Guy sat mute for a moment before standing once more. He began to pace and rub his knuckles again. "Neji is. . . he is recovering. To answer _your_ question."

"What happened?" Kakashi forced his voice to sound neutral, but a touch of pain wove it's way in any way. He didn't really know any of the students of Team Ten, but the thought of one of them . . . He shook him self mentally and focused on Guy.

"I can't tell you exactly what happened." Guy stopped pacing and looked up, a deeply troubled expression over his face.

"I understand."

"No, you don't." Guy Sighed, heavily. It was unnerving to see the look spread over Guy's face now. It occurred to him that Guy's demeanor was like Naruto's, maybe not as dangerous or menacing, but just as grief struck.

Kakashi wondered to him self why the universe was suddenly dropping all of these people in his lap. Naruto was his student, yes, but Guy. . . well Guy was his rival, naturally he'd seek him out sooner or latter. Truth be told he understood why, he was the one who was always calm, always the same demeanor in every situation, the one who never seemed to be feather ruffled. Not to mention these were his people: his student, his rival. He felt a little obligated: they trusted him.

"Did he. . . How did he. . ." The words caught in his throat and he found he couldn't quite bring him self to speak.

"Hinata alerted the medical personal in the compound." Guy said dryly. "Thanks to her he's still alive."

"But did he do it him self?" The words were stiff and forced, but he'd said them.

Guy shook his head. "Yes." He said automaticly, then he shook his head. "No, no, not like you are thinking."

Kakashi wasn't sure what to say to that so he changed the topic before the current one forced up memories he wanted to stay dead. "You asked if Naruto had spoken to me. He has. He was having nightmares." Kakashi looked up at the man before him. Guy was staring back with a sort of hurt and tired expression now, but he didn't look so greef struck. He was alowing kakashi to direct the question, willing to divert from the previous subject. In the light Kakashi saw thin lines radiating out from the corners of his eyes.

Guy had aged ten years in less than two weeks.

"I was the one who told Naruto to come to you."

Kakashi's eyes widened. "What? When?"

"The day of the. . . _incident_." He stressed the last word, forcing it out, like it was meant to be the truth weather it was or wasn't. "Naruto seemed troubled and I. . ." The Green Beast struggled for words "I was blinded to what was going on with my student. I closed my eyes to his troubles and it nearly cost him his life. Every one ignored him, his clan, his team mates. . . I should have been there, listening." More knuckle rubbing. He was acting like a man with arthritis. "When I saw Naruto's lifeless eyes after such youthful joy I could NOT let him NOT get help!" He clenched his fists and unclenched them. "Our youth. . . Kakashi. . . is growing up!" At that he finally burst in to tears. They weren't the sort of bawling hysterical tears Kakashi was used to seeing from the green clad ninja, but a sort of subdued sole wrenching sob that seemed so much more painful.

They sounded like the sort of tears that can only be cried after being held back for days and day on end. Guy sank back in to the bed and buried his face in his hands. His whole body was trembling. "I nearly lost him!"

Kakashi shifted, unsure as to what he was supposed to do or say now. "Guy-san. . ."

"I should have seen this coming!" He wailed. "They f-f-fought ALL the T-TIME!"

"Who?" Kakashi asked almost sweetly.

"N-n-n-ej-ji and Hin-n-nata." He was trying to quiet him self, but failing.

"Did they fight?" He asked.

"Sh-she. . ." He shook his head and gasped for air. "She and he f-fought."

"Did she try to kill him?" Kakashi asked, not able to picture the mousy little Hyuga capable of hurting any one out side of an enemy. And definitely not in any thing but self defense.

"Not exactly." He took another breath and calmed him self a little. "That's not why I'm h-here, though."

"Then why are you here?"

He sniffed, loudly and stood, though he seemed a bit unsteady. "I came to t-tell you that no matter what I will protect your students! I will protect Naruto from the Akastuki!" He clenched a fist, but did not strike a pose.

For a moment Kakashi could say nothing, stunned by the sudden change in character. The tears were still falling, but the sorrow had vanished. "Guy-san. . ."

* * *

Tsunade watched as the masses vanished in clouds of smoke and mist. Worry knotted her stomach, but she kept her face stern, calm and commanding. "Thank you for standing with me."

Jiraya set a warm hand on her shoulder. "Anny thing for Naruto. You know that."

She felt her self smiling through the worry and the mask of 'Hokage'. "Threats from with in, threats from with out. . ." She sighed. "It feels like the world is slowly unraveling, Jiraya. Where did it go wrong?"

"I don't know."

She glanced up at him and saw her feelings of anxiety were reflecting in his expression.

"We'll get through this."

* * *

Orochimaru jumped back and smiled as Naruto found him self slamming in to the bridge where the serpent had been. Screaming wildly Naruto felt chakra roll around and through him. He had two tails. . . no, now he had three. . . or was it four? Red and yellow swarmed him from all sides, razor blades and burning bubbles. He charged again, just narrowly avoiding a volley of planks and beams. In a moment he was over the bridge and following the ex-Leaf ninja towards the tree line. Orochimaru served to the right, then to the left, but Naruto kept up with out effort.

He could feel him self gathering chakra in his chest. Orochimaru turned again, swinging towards the tree line. Ground rushed under Naruto as the chakra built up and festered just under his skin. His whole body felt like it was on fire.

"NARUTO STOP!" Sakura's voice rang out. Again he faltered and turned to look back at her. She was just standing there, useless, she was so useless. He growled and smiled viciously as he brought the chakra up his throat. She wouldn't distract him again.

He let the monster shoot the chakra at the bridge and was elated to see the three humans on his team scrambling for cover. Sai jumped clear of this bridge and made hand signs as the chakra ball landed dead center of the wooden structure exploding on impact. Scraps of metal and timber shot out every where. Sai was still making hand signs as he fell. An ink and paper bird appeared, carrying him to safety.

"_This is you, Naruto." He smiled a wide, plastic, smile. "You are not the monster."_

The words of the memory stung and he winced back. "What am I _doing_?" Looking down at his hands he saw the claws. For a moment the memory was so sharp and clear he could feel the rage and panic flowing around him, not through him. A shadow loomed over him and he remembered where he was. On instinct he dove away. Orochimaru was looming over him, grinning.

"A little bipolar now, are we?" He licked his lips. "They have pills for that you know."

Naruto growled, but the rage wasn't pulsing through him. He could feel what ever it was calming him slipping, but for the moment he was clear headed. "What have you done with Sasuke!"

Orochimaru leaned closer with a sneer. "Oh wouldn't _you_ like to know?"

The calm vanished from with in as his own anger erupted. Coiling back he readied for a strike. Orochimaru blocked the blow with ease. "Temper temper."

The calm gone he felt the chakra and the panic and the hate and the rage taking him over again. He screamed as more chakra built up with in. The need to kill engulfed him again and he forced the chakra out towards the serpent sannin. Orochimaru leaped back, but cloided with a tree with a yelp. Orochimaru tried to move, but he could not. Fear swamped the serpentine eyes and for a moment Naruto felt the glory of victory at hand.

Silver hair and shining glasses appeared from the right with lighting speed. With a small burst of his own chakra Kabuto redirected the larger glowing ball. The action sent a shock thorough the thinner man's arm and it crumpled from the impact. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground, skidding several feet. The redirected Chakra ball sailed trough the forest clearing a huge path through the timber. Burning, destroying.

That was supposed to be for the sannin.

Naruto growled and leaped for the medical ninja. "I'll kill you."

Kabuto rolled and tried to back away with a look of agony written over his face as Naruto sailed closer. An instant before Naruto could sink his claws in to the man's flesh a snake caught him mid air. Snarling, frustrated, Naruto bit down on the snake, killing it. It fell limp and he rushed forward again. This time a fist landed solidly in to his cheek, sending him flying in to the trees. As he twisted and readied for a landing he saw Orohimaru kneeling and helping Kabuto sit up. The sepent handed a solder pill to his savior.

Naruto landed feet first against a tree and shot back towards them, leaping sideways from tree trunk to tree trunk. Orichimaru stood and lifted his hands defensively, a scowl on his face, Kabuto still struggling at his feet. Naruto grinned. They were his for sure this time. He opened his claws and bared his teeth.

* * *

Iruka waited for the splash and the pain and landed hard on solid ground. He skidded for a foot or two before coming to rest. He held still, trembling, waiting for the blow, when he realized he was on land. Some thing warm and wet landed on his leg.

Cautiously opening his eyes he discovered a large chunk of bowl was hanging limp from his left thigh. Panic slammed through him and he scrambled back, terrified it was his intestine he was looking at. He his some thing cold and metallic.

Scythe?

_'Calm down_.'

He gasped, realized he was wet, and that the bowel had fallen off a foot or so in front of him during his scramble. He shook as he ran his hand over his stomach. He wasn't wounded but he was soaking wet.

Looking past the grotesque internal organ he gaped at the clearing. It was carnage, plain and simple. From the tree line to the lake body parts littered the grass like confetti after a party. Hanging from the trees were black threads looking like grim bloody garland. In one tree his vest was hung neatly to dry as if he'd gone to do his washing. Still shaking he ran a hand through his hair. It was loose and slick with blood.

He backed away and bumped again in to the metallic object. Yelping he scrambled away from it and found it was a shovel. An ordinary, every day, garden shovel. His mind reeled and his stomach churned.

_'Bury the bodies, Iruka.'_

He stood, unsteadily, and felt drained. There wasn't a shred of chakra left in his body. his hands were trembling so hard it was difficult to fully grasp the tool. But grasp it he did. He pulled it free of the ground and turned back to the mess spread out before him. Some thing white stood out from all of the red and green. It was half of a head. He swallowed back more bile and fought the urge to gag. Twenty feet from the top half of the head was the lower half, moving, mouthing silent curses.

Iruka's stomach heaved and he dropped to his knees, screwed his eyes shut, and clutched the shovel like a life line. It took several minutes to empty his stomach completely. There was no food, he hadn't eaten in two days, but there was water. Buckets of watter.

_'Don't be pathetic.' _He gulped the air feeling his whole body threatening to shut down._ 'Stand up, gather the body parts, and dig a hole.'_

He swallowed back a new bubble of bile. "Who are you?" He opened his eyes and caught his reflection in the shovel. It tossed it's messy hair and smiled smugly.

_'I'm every thing you never had the guts to try and be.'_

Swallowing again he looked back up at the carnage. "You did this?"

_'Do you see any one else out there?'_

Iruka closed his eyes again and let his head rest in his hand. Still trembling he licked his lips and tasted blood. He had no idea who's blood it was. For several moments all he could do was kneel hunched and shiver from exhaustion.

_'Hurry before some one finds us'._

"Why?" He looked back down at the shovel.

It tossed it's hair again and gave Iruka a cold sneer. _'Because no one will believe you when you tell them the truth about us.'_

Iruka's grip tightened on the shovel and he stood. His knees knocked violently for a moment before they found their strength. Strange masks were tangled in the black threads in the trees. They were all busted, like the halved head. Broken faces staring mutely down at him. A silent witness to what had happened.

Iruka could not fathom the battle that had taken place. He felt the strain of a body spent, but no memories bore witness to what had happened. It was if he'd been asleep. Maybe this was a bad dream.

He'd been about to hit the water and then he was sure they were going to kill him. He was a paper worker, a desk officer. He couldn't hold his own against his own people of slightly higher rank, let alone immortals from an S-Ranked terrorist group.

He stepped forward, towards the pungent chunk of intestine he'd first been acquainted with, and ran his hands through his hair again. The blood was clotting as it was drying making it stiff. He was sure it wasn't his blood. Trembling he stooped to pick up the twisted bowl and tried not to look at the sneering double looking back up at him from the tool.

Maybe he'd snapped, maybe he was insane. At least, he realized, Naruto was safe now, sanity or no.

* * *

"How do you know?" Tsunade asked.

Jiraya glanced up, his face hard and his eyes dark. "Because while I still have breath in my body. . ."

* * *

Naruto was only an inch away, his chakra building up again, when Kabuto was suddenly in front of him. Naruto couldn't stop him self and slammed in to the open palm of his good arm. A burst of the twisted medical Ninja's chakra pulsed through him and he felt some thing 'pop' in his chest. The tails vanished and his body went limp from his ribs down.

He heaved a breath as snakes coiled around his arms. Kabuto grinned and another ball of energy formed in his hand. "So much for killing me." He sneered as he pressed his hand in to Naruto's chest. A second burst of chakra exploded through him. Blood sprayed forward and showered the cocksure ninja before him.

* * *

_I will make sure that, unlike my other precious children, nothing will ever hurt my child. I will fight to the death to give him the peace we all fought so hard to create. I will sacrifice any thing to ensure his wellbeing, his future. . ._

* * *

"I don't know what to say!" Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and hoped the green clad man in front of him would calm down enough to listen to reason. "You have your own team, and they need you."

Guy sniffled loudly and stuck out his lower lip, all a tremble with raw emotions. "You don't understand! Naruto is the reason Neji is in the state he's in!"

Kakashi lowered his hand. "What? What do you mean?"

Guy took a breath. "Neji can't stand the thought of what's happening to Naruto. So if I have to protect Naruto to protect my students I will!"

Kakashi frowned under the dark cloth. "Guy listen to me."

The Green Beast nodded and rubbed his nose on his sleeve. "Yes, my eternal rival?"

"I can't make chakra and I may _never_ be able to do so, I doubt I'll ever be able to take another high ranked mission, or mid ranked mission for that matter, I don't even think I'll ever be able to _eat_ properly again, but know this. . ."

* * *

Iruka thrust the shovel in to the dirt and grunted at the sheer effort he had to make just to keep him self upright. "So what do you want?" He asked.

The reflection looked up at him with a cocked eyebrow. _'Isn't that obvious? I want every thing you were to gutless to ask for – _**demand**_ to have. I want power, wealth, respect. . . I want it, Iruka, and you can't stop me from taking it.'_

* * *

Guy leaned forward, eager to hear. "Yes?"

"Nothing will EVER. . ."

* * *

". . . _ever_ touch. . ." Jiraya growled.

* * *

"_**NARUTO!**_" Sakura's shrill scream rang in his ears. "_**NO!**_"

He blinked. The rage was gone. The hate was one. The panic was gone. He tried to speak, but all he got was blood drooling down his chin. He couldn't get any air. The air was gone.

His back was numb. Every thing was numb. His mind was numb.

He needed to breath.

Kabuto dropped him and he crumpled, unable to catch him self. All above him was blue sky. The edges of his vision started to darken and he tried, desperately, to breath. There was no response. Kabuto was bending over, picking some thing up, it looked like a chunk of bone. His smug face hovered over head for a moment.

It looked like a chunk of spine.

"That was a lot more messy than I thought it would be."

Naruto swallowed and dug his fingers in to the grass, but the world was turning black on him. He heaved his chest, dizzy and desperate, but no air came to him.

"Tisk tisk. They'll have to cremate his body." Orohimaru said, looking amused.

No air. . .

Wait. . . not yet. . . He tried one more time to inhale . . . AIR! I'm not ready to. . .! _**AIR!**_

_Sakura glanced at him, her eyes were filled with purpose. "Breath for him, Naruto."_

The black was consuming the blue utterly. He felt his arms and head going lax. He wanted air, he needed air. . .

_Naruto scooped up his bag and set his hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "I'll be back." He said firmly. "I promise."_

He wasn't ready yet. . .

_Tsunade leaned back and frowned. "You really are that brat's students." _

. . . **not yet** . . . !

_"Yes, we are." Naruto replied. "Till the day we die."_

* * *

_Naruto. I will name him Naruto and I will protect him till the day I die. Nothing on heaven or earth can brake my promise to him. _

_Nothing will __**ever**__ touch Naruto Namikaze._

_Minato ~ Post Third Grate Shinobi World War._


	11. Moments After

Shorter with only 18 pages, but the next two chapters should be good. I didn't want to add to much to this because to much would have, I think, taken away from the focus of the chapter. What is that focus? I can't tell you right now. XD

Music for this chapter? For Jiraya =ANY THING from Right Said Fred! '_Don't Talk Just Kiss_' is probibly the one that stands out the most. '_Sexy Bum_' is there too. Really ANY chapter he's in these songs fit him. I'm not sure what songs I'd like for the others. If you think of one for some one let me know!

I will say all of the R n' R you have given me has really helped me to keep going, and I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on this story. Really, your comments are like crack to me! Let me know what parts you DON'T like as well! In the future I may pull the whole thing down and fix it up, so any crits and/or other helpful input will be MUCH loved!

* * *

**Chapter 11: Moments After**

**TT Snim**

* * *

A gentle breeze drifted over the steeply carved cliffs that held the river below cooling the heat from Yamato's skin and lapping up the trickle of sweat rolling down his back. He stepped forward and lifted a hand to shade his eyes from the sun.

"Naruto?"

The blond was slumping lifelessly to the ground on the other side of the broken bridge.

"No." He glanced down and saw Sakura was next to him, shaking. Her eyes were dilated in to deep pits of fear. She sank to her knees and brought a trembling hand up to her mouth. "Nonononono. . ."

He turned back towards the blond who was sprawled in the grass just before the tree line. The two villent ninja were standing over him with wild jackal grins. They started to move away. A shadow sored past Yamato and he looked up. Sai was following them.

Sakura hic-coughed. "Do some thing!" She turned and looked up with wide, wide eyes. "DO SOME THING!" Her scream stung at his ears.

Silently he folded his hands together and mended the bridge that separated the team. Wood stretched and covered the yawning earth with ease. Orochimaru was gone. Yamato could still feel his sticky warm hands over his throat and he could still see the patronizing recognition in the serpentine face.

"_I know you."_ He'd said. _"You are one of mine."_

Before Yamato could respond to him Naruto had attacked again. His eyes drifted back to the still form. Even from this distance he could see wafts of smoke rolling up from the body,

_Body_. Kakashi would not be happy about this.

The moment the bridge was formed, crude as it was, Sakura was up and running. Yamato sprung forward, and over took her, he didn't want her to see Naruto first, for some reason. She'd see him any way, but deep down Yamato wanted. . . some thing. . .

As an ANBU he was used to this scenario, but she wasn't like him. She was a healer.

She belonged to Kakashi.

He remembered – fondly, he noted - the man, horrible and cruel, a deadly weapon, acting as a human shield on more occasions than Yamato could count. He'd taken blows meant to kill to save his team mates time and time again. He'd not be happy.

"_I'll protect my team._" He'd said. And then he'd smiled even when his body had been shattered.

Some undefinable emotion whispered up from Yamato's stomach, churning it, but he pressed it down easily. He was ANBU.

He was closer now, his feet thundering over the wobbly wooden planks, the smoke was still wafting up. Blood was streaked along the ground, splattered for nearly twenty feet behind the corps. Bone and meaty bits littered the aria on a gruesome spray. He stopped and turned. Sakura was still coming. He reached out and snatched her up mid stride.

For a moment she fought him, but he was ANBU. She'd never get away unless he let her go.

"Don't look." He said as she kicked at him. She was screaming and twisting. Tears were running rivers down her face.

"LET ME GO!" She bit him.

He winced against her bite - it was all mighty strong for such a small mouth - before he spoke again. "You don't have to see this. You should remember him a different way, like he was when you last saw him."

She let go and glared at him. "Last saw him?" She was incredulous. "You mean when he was out of his mind in pain and rage?" Her tears were soaking her shirt. "Or when he was begging us to kill him before he lost it?"

She had a point.

"Sakura. . ."

"I need to look at him. I need to know if he's found peace."

They were logical argumentative words. She was obviously still in battle mode. She under stood _mechanically_ that he was dead, but _emotionally_ she was just in shock. He wondered if seeing the body would move her on to a more solid form of grief. It usually did for people in cases like this.

Except for him. He was ANBU.

With a whisper of a sigh he set her down. She swayed for a moment before taking off again. She wasn't running this time, but trotting.

There was no hurry. Naruto wasn't going any where.

* * *

Guy looked down at the battered and drained form of his only true rival, the legendary, extraordinary, Copy Cat Kakashi. His eyes, once a horrible yet beautiful dance of iron and crimson, were now dulled to a tarnished flint and stone. Still, from deep, deep, down with in the legends soul the glorious will of fire was still burning brightly. Sharangan Kakashi was down, but he would rise again, like a Pheonix from the ash. No handy cap could hold back the legendary ninja. He would NOT fail his team!

That's was the hope Guy clung to now. Every one spoke of how cold and savage Kakashi was, but they could not see that brightly blazing flame of passion that consumed all it touched! They could not see past his record or his reputation! The_ fools_.

They had not spared with the man under the silvery strands of pale moon light when the frost and the cold stung and the ache of limbs burned. They had not done fearsome battle in the blistering sun when sweat dropped like rain and blood colored the cloth on their bodies. They had not seen past the mask, cloth or otherwise. You had to fight a person, head on and with out reserve, to find what his inner truth was.

Kakashi's inner truth was simple. Childishly simple. Every one makes it, or they go on with out him.

Guy sucked in a shaking breath. The one truth was so wonderful and profound it rattled him to the core. Especially now.

"My Eternal Rival, I am awed by your glorious will of fire!" The cold stone and flint eyes rolled a little, seemingly unimpressed.

Out side of battle Guy had always found Kakashi to be some one who hid. He hid like a small child in the shadows behind a parent, wide eyed and a little frightened, behind those simple masks of cloth and indifference. No one else saw this, maybe with the exception of the Perverted Sage – whom Guy cared little fore, in all honesty, he corrupted youth, after all -, and Guy was sure no one had taken the time to look. He had. He'd taken time to search out and burn with the heat of that fiery soul.

Those flint and stone eyes were trying to look lazy and uncaring, but they were wide and there was fear in them. He was even more readable now that his head band was gone and his flack vest was missing. He looked smaller, and weaker. He looked unwell.

They said he'd been dead.

Guy shuddered and bit back a mournful moan. He WASN'T dead. Guy would not have been able to stand it if Kakashi had died. Guy dropped his voice a little, sure if he spoke the next words to loud some one out side the room would hear him. "Kakashi."

The silver haired legend looked at him. "What?"

He steeled him self, like a man about to thrust in to battle, this would hurt, maybe wound. But he had to say it. "Our student's are the future."

Kakashi nodded.

"I . . ." His throat closed and he very very nearly lost the ability to speak. He tried to clear it and felt him self near tears again. "I nearly lost one of my students."

Those eyes darted down and Kakashi toyed with the bed sheets. It was some thing small children did when scolded. "You said he was OK now."

Guy nodded gravely. "Now, yes, but I am afraid he may be in danger again soon from his own clan."

Kakashi looked troubled at that. "And?"

"Now I know what it was like for Naruto. I want you to know that. . ." He swallowed, hard. He WAS going to cry again. Kakashi looked up.

"Know what?"

"I want you to know that Team Ten stands behind Team Seven one hundred and one percent!" He thrust his thumb up.

Kakashi stared for a minute. Guy expected to be dismissed, like he had been when ever he'd been so open and honest with his legendary Eternal Rival, But Kakashi dipped his head again.

"Can you keep a secret?" He whispered. His voice was dry and hollow, he was opening that soul up right before Guy.

Guy lowered his thumb, shocked. "Y-yes!" He had no idea how well Guy could keep a secret. No idea. What ever Kakashi was going to say next he'd take to the grave. He'd keep it beyond the grave!

There was a long, long moment of silence before Kakashi spoke with sorrow filled eyes and deep, dark words. "The seal is weakening and he's loosing control of the fox."

The world, having once been putting it's self back together after that horrifying night at the Hyuga compound, shattered in to a million piercing shards all over again. "You mean we'll see _it _loose again?" The thought was terrifying. The last time it had been loose. . . Guy shook his head from the bloody memories.

"It might. I need you to do some thing for me."

"Any thing!" He'd shove the moon to where the sun was, and the sun to where the moon was, if Kakashi asked.

Kakashi straightened. "If Naruto looses him self to the fox and attacks I want you to take Sakura and get as far from the village as you can. She'll try to save him. Do what ever you have to, for as long as you have to, to make sure she is safe."

"What about you?"

Kakashi hesitated for a long moment before smiling brightly. "No body can take on a demon, but I will save my student!" He looked so broken, so frail, so determined. "I'm going to save Naruto and that is a promise!"

Guy choked back a sob. "Beautiful."

* * *

Orochimaru raced over the grassy meadow grinning. Most of Team seven was stilled back at the river, they would take time to regroup. Only one, an individual he wasn't familiar with, was following him.

"We have company." He flicked his tongue out, testing the air. It tasted sweet today, like blood and sun shine. "But I don't think he wants to fight us."

He expected some sort of reply from the man runing next to him, but Kabuto was silent. Orochimaru glanced over at the silver haired medic. A thin sheen of sweat was covering his face and his arm was hanging limply at his side. His good arm was burnt in ribbons all the way to the shoulder.

Orochimaru scowled. Kabuto was focusing every thing he had on simply staying next to him. Long ago he'd freed Kabuto from the trance the sordid puppet master had cast on him and then prepared to torture the information he wanted out of the youth. Kabuto had quietly asked he be given a chance to thank him first and tell him every thing he wanted to know without going to the trouble of waisting the supplies.

Orochimaru gave him the chance. Then on a whim, a possible echo of his former weak years as a member of the bleeding heart Leaf, he'd let Kabuto go free. To his surprise Kabuto had asked if he had an empty room he could stay in. The very next morning Kabuto had awoken early and was not only cooking breakfast, but he was meticulously cleaning the tools that had been originally intended to extract information out of him. He called a greeting with a smile and a flushed cheek wave.

Orichimaru didn't trust him then, and Kabuto had not made granting trust easy. Time after time he showed signs of alternate motives. But former Konoha brat had thrown him self between an attacker and him self, willing to lay down his for his lord with out a second thought. That had sealed Orochimaru's trust and he rightly 'adopted' the medic as he 'pet' then and there.

It wasn't long before this little medical minnion became an invaluable tool on Orochimaru's quest for power and knowledge.

"You are hurt Kabuto-Kun." He meant it to sound sarcastic and cold, but it came out as some thing else entirely. Orochimaru was a little amused at how easily he gushed over his favorite pet.

The tender undertones did not reach the injured medic however, he only grunted in reply. The color was draining from his face.

As much as Orochimaru had fought to become independent of any other human being Kabuto had proven more than necessary. It was for this reason he stopped, mid stride, and pulled – gently pulled- Kabuto to a stop. This had nothing to do with those old weak habits, none at all. He needed the brat, like it or not, and letting him die would mess every thing up. He'd never be able to take Sauske's body alone. He was doing this for self preservation. Pure and simple.

Kabuto uttered a faint moan and dropped to his knees. He reached up and clutched his arm as a bead of perspiration formed over his brow. He'd jumped once more between master and death and now he was showing the result of the action.

Orochimaru stroked the damp hair. Encouraging and comforting were healing aids, not affection, he was a killer and cold blooded. He was doing this for self preservation. Nothing would tell him other wise. "Can you heal your self?"

"Nnnh." He dipped his head. "My solder pills. Back pouch."

Orochimaru knelt and retrieved the bottle. "One?"

"Three." He closed his eyes and drew in a ragged breath. Orochimaru lifted a brow, the medic was worse off than he let on. Taking out the pills he held them up. A shaking hand took them and downed them quickly. It only took moments for the energy to kick in and the healing to start.

Again Orochimaru stroked back the damp hair. "My poor pet." He frowned. Not affection. Not at all.

This time Kabuto heard and a thin smile spread while his cheeks flushed ever so slightly. "I'll be fine."

He didn't doubt that.

A shadow passed over head and Orochimaru stood. The one that was following them had caught up. A paper bird swooped down and the black haired teen stood, eyes dark and face unreadable.

"You must have a death wish." Orochimaru spoke slowly, leisurely.

"I have a message." He said simply.

Kabuto was trying to stand. Orochimaru set his hand on the smaller ninja's shoulder. "I can handle thins one Kabuto-Kun."

"Yes my lord." He dropped back to his knees.

"What message?"

The dark haired boy pulled a slip of paper from his shirt. "A message from my master, Shimura Danzo."

"Danzo." Orochimaru grinned. "Come here boy, I won't hurt you."

The youth walked up, eyes and face blank. Orohimaru took the note and read it over slowly, a wicked smile spreading. "Ah... How interesting."

"My lord?" Kabuto asked.

"It says here that Danzo wants to meet with me and discuss a truce to take over _or_ destroy Konoha." He folded the paper back up and stuffed it away in the folds of his cloths. Looking down at the youth he tried to make his face friendly. "Come with us, child, I wish to ask you many questions."

"As you wish." He bowed a little.

* * *

Tsunade sunk down in to her office chair and leaned back letting out a stress filled sigh. Jiraya leaned against her desk and looked down at her with a sad smile.

"Well, now the city is on alert."

"You aren't leaving again, are you?"

He shrugged. "There are leads on the leader of the Akastuki. I have to follow them all."

She shifted and sat up. Reaching out she set her hand on his. "I need you to stay for a little while."

He turned and looked down at her. "No you don't."

She pressed her lips in a fine line and shook her head, so many thoughts were rolling through them it was hard to just pick one to worry over. "I need you here." She said again. Looking up she met his eyes. "I'm asking you to stay, just until the two Akastuki are found. We might need your help."

He sighed and looked away. "You mean you want me to get more information out of Kakashi."

She glanced down and tapped her thumb nail against the desk. "Only in part." She finally sighed. "What I am facing needs two people and the one person I thought would be here has run off trying to save Naruto."

"Who?" Jiraya asked, his back still to her.

"Umino Iruka. The Paper Work Ninja."

Jiraya nodded slowly. "Naruto talked about him a lot. A. Lot."

"They have a special bond."

"Naruto thinks of him like a child would think of a father." Jiraya turned back to her again. "What do you need me to do?"

She opened a desk drawer and pulled out a scroll. "I want you to get to the very bottom of Root."

He took the scroll and opened it. "What is this?"

"A list of known names. I just added Kakashi to the list of possibilities rather than certainties."

He frowned causing all of his wrinkles to deepen. "Tsunade I don't think. . ."

"We have to keep an open mind here."

He sighed and rolled up the scroll.

"There is a confirmed member of Tram Seven that is another possible member of Root."

"Who, Yamato?"

She shook her head. "A boy named Sai. Danzo personally insisted to the elders I assign him to Sauske's old position with in the team. While I have no doubt he's a member of Root I can't prove it any more than I can prove Kakashi is. But I _know_ he is a member."

"So why didn't you block the action?" Jiraya asked.

She taped her nail against the wood again. "Because if I show them we are suspicious they won't be so bold in their moves. I want Danzo to be as cocky as he thinks he can afford to be. Men are mostly all one of two types, flashy and bold or cunning and sneaky."

"So what kind is he?" Jiraya asked.

She glared. "He falls in the exception category of being both. He thinks he's hiding every thing from me, and truth be told he's got him self so far buried under ground that I really can only scratch at the surface. He has, however, gotten more brazen the longer I don't openly pursue him." She leaned forward and folded her hands. "He thinks I have no idea he's out there."

Jiraya sighed and sat, thinking, for a long moment. Then he slapped his hand down on the table. "All right! I'll up root these cur for you my lady! BUT. . ."

She glared. "But what, the fate of the village is at stake! You can't possibly put a condition on that."

"But I want you to go on a date with me!" He grinned like a cat who got the cream.

Tsunade felt a flare of irritation at his flippant reply. "Jiraya. . ."

"Just a cup of tea and some Raman." He said, his smile shifting in to some thing kind. He lifted his hands. "You've been under so much stress and I just want you to have one nice afternoon off. I won't even crack a joke about your nice ass."

Before she could stop her self she said, "OK."

His face fell. "Come _**on!**_ I _**know**_ you like me it's just _one_ cup . . . Wait. . ." He stiffened and started to slide forward. "You just said 'OK'!" He slipped further towards the edge, completely stunned, and she stood, reaching out for him.

"Jiraya!"

Heedless of the impending fall he grinned like a loon. "YES!" He teetered on the edge for a moment before loosing his seating completely. He yelped and flailed, trying to catch him self, but there was no help for it, he was going down. Tsunade made a grab for him, but he was far to heavy, and falling much to quickly, for her to catch. She was pulled over her desk and down with him in a heap on the other side. The crash was loud, but the stunned silence that followed was even louder some how.

She was chest down while he was chest up with a stunned look still plastered over his face. She growled and tried to get up, but their limbs were tangled together like wrestling anacondas. She was trapped on top of the smiling idiot.

His toothy grin looked a lot like Naruto's. It made him look younger, but far, far, more perverted than it should have. His eyes slowly focused on her, no, on her chest. The grin faded.

"You are going to kill me now, aren't you?"

"Yes." She lifted her fist and readied to strike him. A knock at the door stopped her. Cursing softly she tried to rise, but they were still limb locked.

* * *

The walk was longer than he'd expected, the tree line didn't look that far away from the other side of the gorge. Sakura was on her knees quivering.

She gasped, sobbing with out any sound. The enemy was still out there, she was trying to keep quiet. She still hadn't let go of her fighting instincts.

He stepped up to her and the body at last and looked down. There was a smoldering chasm in the blond's chest, so large he could have fit his hand in side and spread his fingers out wide.

The queasy roll of emotion bubbled up again and he had to forcibly swallow to keep it down this time. He felt naked with out his ANBU mask. With out that barrier between him and the body he could clearly see the little curls of smoke rising from his chard ribs. He swallowed again as the smell of burnt flesh hit him.

Sakura gasped again and reached out to touch his cheek. "Naruto." Her voice came out in a tight squeak. "Why?"

Yamato sighed and knelt down next to the pink haired teen. Training told him he needed to burn the body, and quickly. Secrets could be derived from his flesh, secrets like the Rasangan, or about the sealed Fox it's self. Orochimaru was getting away, however, and only Sai was out there after him. Yamato didn't quite trust the beady eyed boy, he needed to go now. Burning the body would take time he just didn't have at the moment.

The girl next to him finally started to make small keening sounds, high pitched and gut wrenching. She was finally shutting of 'Battle Sakura' and going in to 'Normal Sakura' mode. The grief was obvious now, it was contorting her face and causing her to shake violently. She'd be of no use to him now.

Maybe he could kill two birds with one stone. He wasn't trained to, he wasn't supposed to, but he set his hand on her back. Maybe it was to east the blow of what he was about to ask her to do.

"You have to destroy the corpse."

The look she gave him was one of incomprehension. "What?"

"Orochimaru is getting away and I don't have time to incinerate this body. You have to do it."

"Why?" She asked between two violent shudders.

He wasn't sure he under stood her question. 'Why did she have to do' it or 'why her'? He settled for the former as he'd already explained the latter. "We can't let an enemy take it."

She turned back down to the youth at her feet. Yamato followed her gaze. She wanted to see if he'd found peace, but from the look on his face it was clear he hadn't. His eyes were glassy and wide, stretched in fear and pain and his mouth was agape with a mute scream that would never sound.

He stood and stepped away from those blank, horrified eyes. Kakashi's student. He rubbed his face and grunted. The emotions were rough and he had to take a breath to keep focused. "The metal parts won't burn." He said, trying to follow his training. "You can keep the head band to remember him by if you would like."

"I don't want it." She said, thickly.

"I'll take it." He said on impulse. Bending down he pulled it off of the boy's head and stuffed it roughly in to his pocket. Then he spotted the glitter of the gem Tsunade gave him, that was more than metal alone, that was crystallized chakra from the First, he was sure of it now. He tugged that off of Naruto's neck as well. He might need it latter.

Sakura was watching him with red, glazed, eyes. She wasn't crying as hard now. Maybe she hadn't started to grieve yet after all, maybe she was still in the knee jerk phase of his death. It didn't matter, she'd get there sooner or latter. He was out of time any way.

"I'm going now. Stay here until I get back. Burn the body." He stuffed the gem in another pocket.

She continued to stare at him.

"Burn it."

She nodded.

"Good."

"Captain Yamato. . ."

"Yes?" He asked.

Her eyes were hollow and dark. "Kakashi Sensei is going to kill you."

"I highly doubt that. He understands what battle is like, Sakura. He's been to war." He said, and turned to walk away. His training told him what he said was correct, an ANBU Ninja such as Kakashi would understand. These things happened to lesser ranked ninja in fights like this. But some thing else entirely agreed with the pink haired girl behind him.

He suppressed a hard shudder and fought to refocus his mind. I am _ANBU_. He thought flatly. _ANBU_. He couldn't quite convince him self of that at the moment. _**ANBU**_. Not with out the mask.

* * *

Kakashi sighed in relief when Guy left. He sank again in to the covers and closed his eyes. Guy was different now, restrained, masking his emotions. He'd felt pain, real pain, that much was clear. Kakashi had no doubt every word the Green Beast said was true and soul deep. Despite how on occasion he loathed the monstrosity in tights he trusted him.

Trusted him with his life.

Trusted him with his student's lives.

Maybe that's why he'd been honest too. After what Tsunade had done he hadn't been sure who he could trust, and he needed all the people he could gather to support Naruto, because despite all that raw power and determination the boy was fragile. Maybe not physically, but mentally he was falling apart. People who acknowledged him were like medicine for his soul.

When he got back Kakashi just hoped he could still train him. Chakra or no they were still a team. He still had a lot of lessons planed for Naruto. Some of them he could teach with out chakra. Others lessons. . .

He sighed, troubled. He needed chakra just to keep up with the raman guzzling teen.

Exhausted as he was he sat up once more and brought his hands together to where they were shaped like they were holding a ball in the air. Closing his eyes he called upon every cell in his body. He had have chakra. He had to because he needed it for when Naruto got back.

He refused to just lay there uselessly when he could be helping, even if the help wasn't all that much. Because if there was one thing he'd learned about the zealous blond was that every person with him counted. He already had that soft spoken teacher, Iruka-whats-his-face, but he needed more now. The stakes were higher. He was in danger, very real danger. Kakashi had to have chakra. He had to save his student.

He was going to keep his word. He was going to protect Naruto, At **ANY** personal cost.

A shimmer in the air stretched thinly between his fingers. Then, small and almost invisible against the bright sun light, sparks popped and fizzled. It wasn't Chidori, but it WAS chakra.

He smiled.

Then overwhelming pain slammed through him.

* * *

Kabuto ran, dazed looking and pinched, but he would be all right by the next morning, Orochimaru was sure of it. Licking his lips the Sanke Sannin pondered the boy just behind them.

He looked like Sauske a little, except he wasn't scowling or sneering constantly. The chalk faced boy had no visible emotions what so ever.

Orochimaru chuckled, Danzo was such a self confident fool he was almost laughable. Clearly the youth was not here to open talks between him self and the cripple. But what the boy was after he couldn't be sure. If he was an assassin Orocimaru wasn't worried. He'd keep Kabuto safe by keeping him in his shadow till the medic was well, and Sauske could care for him self. In the mean time he'd just keep an eye on the dark haired teen. Maybe lock him up, maybe not. He'd cross that bridge when they got back to the hide out.

A new toy, Sai, reassurance of loyalty from his favorite pet, Kabuto, and Naruto was dead!

This day was just getting more and more interesting! He laughed a little, just loud enough for Kabuto to hear.

"Some thing funny?"

"I'm just having a nice day."

Kabuto gave him a smile.

* * *

Tsunade watched in mild horror as the door opened and a raven haired woman entered. "For give the interruption Lady... Hoka. . . WHOA!" He snapped her mouth shut and clamped a hand over her lips.

For a moment Tsunade couldn't recall the woman's name. From under her she felt Jiraya, a LOT of Jiraya, tense. As the woman blinked utterly stunned he tiled his head back and smiled a lazy smile. It looked like one of Kakashi's smiles.

_Pervert_.

"Hello there, Kurinai." He greeted as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening at all. "Some thing we can do for you today?"

She pulled her hand away and opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Tsunade felt panic bubbling up from deep with in. She was the Hokage. _Ho. Ka. Ge_. Hokages did not sprawl on the office floor on top of their old team mates, a team mate of the opposite sex no less, during a city wide emergency. The blush rushing to the woman, Kurinai, told Tsunade she thought it looked exactly what it probably looked like.

At least they were both dressed.

Mostly.

She noted as she glanced down, feeling a bloom of heat in her own cheeks, that she could see much more of her cleavage than she ever hoped to see out side of a shower. The fall to the floor had thrown _things_ all over the place. Panic. She couldn't panic.

Jiraya moved a little under her and she felt his hips digging in to hers.

"What do you want?" She snapped, holding back the urge to kill the man under her. Wait, if she started to strangle him then maybe she could save her reputation. People wrestled before they killed each other.

Right?

"Uh. . . I. . ." The woman stammered.

Jiraya grinned a lazy, perverted grin. "Do tell us, we are sort of. . ." The grin widened. "_Busy_."

"I'm pregnant." She blurted.

"Oh! Congratulations!" Jiraya said with a little cheer. Tsunade couldn't tell if it was real or forged. "Did you come in here just to tell us that?"

"I can't take the mission." She was still holding her hand nearly up to her face, still aghast. "I mean. . . the meeting. . . Akastuki. . ."

Tsunade tried to pull away again, but Jiraya stiffened, he wasn't just going to let her go. "Then go home." Tsunade growled.

"Yes ma'am." She was backing away, closing the door. "I'm sorry I interrupted you. Both of you." The door closed and silence filled the room.

She felt him move under her again, hips against hips, chest against chest. He looked at her and she raised her fist. "Say one perverted thing, Jiraya, say it, go ahead!"

He winced. "Ah... you are. . ." He shifted again and winced. "Squishing. . . stuff. . ."

She fought to rise one more time but he was **still** holding her. "I'm not that heavy, how can I be squishing your. . ." She snapped her jaw shut.

"But there's some thing sharp in your pocket." He grimaced a little as she fought against his grip.

She thought about it slowly. The pens in her pocket. She still had to write letters to Garra. "Then let me go if it hurts."

He smiled, again, and shifted under her. "But it hurts in a _good_ way." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

She lifted her fist once more. "Baka."

* * *

Sakura clenched her fist to her lips as she brushed the hair out of his face. He was staring up with a glassy pained expression that tore all of her ninja training and resolve from her. She hated all of those lessons, all of the lectures on being strong, on never showing your emotions. She was human.

He was human.

She pulled her free hand back and clasped the other fist. "I love you." She felt her self rocking back and forth. It hurt. She hurt. There was still smoke trailing up from the massive wound. "We all loved you."

The whiskers lining his cheeks were fading. He was looking at her, looking with those glassy, narrow, pain filled eyes. Dark rings were forming around them as the blood continued to drain from his body. It was amazing how tan his skin was except where his head band should have been. With out it he looked like a civilian. The whiskers were gone. He looked so normal. But he did not look like he'd found peace.

Reaching down she closed his eyes.

Clouds passed over head, grate rolling white sky ships that blotted out the sun. The smoke curled up in a lazy dance. She continued to rock, back, forward, back, forward. . . Tears fell.

She unclasped her hands and pressed the palms in to her eyes. It was hard to over come the training, hard to let go of the stone warrior she was supposed to be. Shouldn't she be sad?

He was dead, after all.

"No."

She would have to tell Tsunade and she knew the news would brake the Hokage's heart. Jiraya too. And there there was Lee and Kiba and Choji and Ino and. . .

"Kakashi-Sensei." The name came out as a wail. She wanted him to be there. He would have protected them.

Naruto had been the one to save their silver haired teacher. While Tsunade had given up on a normally unsalvageable case Sakura knew that, if the poison could be removed, the Jounin might live. She pulled out the poison a bit at a time and tried to restart his heart, but she couldn't breath for him as well. His eyes had started to dilate in the sure signs of death when Naruto asked if he could help.

She told him to breath for him. Naruto had hesitated: they had both been afraid to see what lay under the mask. The hesitation had only lasted a moment. With determination Naruto had given breath for life and when Sakura looked again the Copy Cat's irises had narrowed again.

For the second time in two weeks Naruto had directly been responsible for bringing some one back to life.

She doubled over, her nose resting an inch away from his. She sucked in a ragged breath. A sheath of chakra that hadn't dissipated yet was still flowing out from his body. He was looking up at her with such pain. At long last she felt the sobs start, the real grief.

He was dead. Dead. Deaddeaddead. . . The word rumbled through her mind like an earthquake. Every thing went numb and she closed her eyes, unable to look in to his.

Blindly reaching up she closed them.

She huddled over him, feeling the soft breeze on her back, smelling the burnt flesh, for longer than she could keep track of. Time had lost all meaning. Her body grew sore from the position, then pain engulfed her. All the while she let the agony flow through her like the roaring of a raging river. Tears pored down and soaked her hands and cloths. After a hand full of eons and moments she finally felt a wash of numb sooth away the physical agony. It took much longer for the numb to reach her mentally. The smoke was gone and so was the burn smell. Only grass and forest and water scented the warm air. And blood.

The sobs slowed. She swallowed and took a calming breath.

The absence of the smell of chard bone and skin made her open her eyes and sit up slowly. She was stiff and cold: he was limp and warm. She'd been ordered to burn the body, she recalled with a sort of detached memory. She wiped her eyes and leaned back a little on her feet. She felt like her whole soul had been deadened.

His blue eyes were tortured and she knew she'd never be able to sleep with out seeing them.

* * *

Iruka wasn't sure at what point he'd fallen asleep, but when he woke with a start he realized he was slumped against a tree with the shovel clutched tightly in his hands. The little grassy aria between the lake and the tree line was clean. There was no evidence that a fight, no, slaughter, had taken place.

He struggled to his feet and dropped the shovel. Scanning the aria he realized there were no visible graves, either. He felt a little more rested, but his chakra was still low.

Maybe he'd dreamed it.

The sun was low in the sky and the chilly air was rolling up off the shimmering water like a bad omen. He moved forward towards the glittering liquid, fearful of what he'd see in it's pale blue surface. His body felt stiff and his hair chunky. He reached up and touched it, under his fingers it crackled.

From the tree line some thing else crackled.

"Quiet, Choji."

"Sorry, Sensei."

Iruka dropped to his knees a foot from the water and closed his eyes. He wondered where Naruto was.

_'Some one is coming.'_

A rough sigh erupted from his throat and he pressed his palms in to his eyes.

_'Wash up. They'll question you.'_

"No."

_'Do it, Iruka.'_ He felt it smile. _ 'You don't want to be seen as insane.'_

"I **am** insane."

_'Look at me.'_

Reluctantly he lowered his fingers and looked down in to the lake. His reflection was standing with it's arms folded and a sly smirk on it's face. _'You poor thing. You have no idea what's going on with you. Wash up. We have to get back to the city,'_

"But Naruto. . ."

The sounds of young ninja making their way closer was getting louder.

It smiled an elusive smile. _'Will be just fine.' _ It rolled it's neck. _'Look at your self.'_ Waves washed up the lake shore and between the crests, in the liquid valleys, Iruka saw him self, haggard, bloody, and on his knees. _'Clean up.'_

Lowering his hands he plunged them deep in to the cool water before splashing it up over him self. The sounds of the other ninja were almost at the tree line. He washed quickly, making sure to scrub all of the blood and gore off. The more he washed the less he felt him self making the movements. He was still kneeling, still looking at the water. His vest was being pulled on.

The world was growing dark. The sun was still up. He could only see the trees thought the veil of water.

"_No!"_ He scrambled to his feet and tried to move past the barrier, but his liquid prison was inescapable.

"Yes." His hair was still down, still dripping. Asuma cleared the tree line with caution.

"Umino Sensei? What are you doing here?" The bearded ninja asked, eyes wide.

_'It's not me!' _ He cried, pressing against the ripples. They couldn't hear him.

"When I heard the Akastuki were after Naruto I felt compelled to warn him. I think he's come this way."

Asuma rolled a cigarette in his mouth, his eyes squinted in thought. "Have you seen any signs of the Akatsuki?"

Iruka felt the head shaking no. "Not a hair."

"You are wet." Asuma noted, still squinting at him.

"It was hot."

_'He's lying to you!' _ He slammed his fists in to the water but was thrown back._  
_

Shikamaru came in to view and gave him a scrutinizing look. "Iruka sensei." He said with a small nod. "Are you on the mission to find the Akastuki as well? I wouldn't think some one of your rank or line of work would be sent out."

The wry smile returned. "I wasn't aware of the orders. In any case I'm returning to the village now." Looking at Asuma he added, "I don't think you'll find any trouble here." He turned, looking over the serene landscape. "The Akatsuki will be. . . deep under ground. . . in their actions."

"We'll have to investigate the aria any way."

"Do, we wouldn't want any one to get too close to Naruto, now would we? That much power in the wrong hands. . ." There was a gluttonous smirk. ". . . could be a disaster."

Iruka withered and dropped again to his knees while his body stood firm.

* * *

Kakashi's breath came in ragged gasps as wave after wave of white hot agony engulfed him. He writhed under the sheets as he bit back a moan. His body was recovering, he'd made chakra, but discovering that one fact was as much torture as it was elation. He was going to get better, he was going to be able to teach his student, but he was going to have to endure this hell to do so.

A small price, he decided, for the safety of his team. He'd been through worse, after all, with much less favorable results. He'd been imprisoned, tortured for information, and nearly killed more times than he could count, all at the hands of 'the enemy'. This time as the torture continued in to the first fledgling minutes of night he was the one who was administering the pain. He was the one in control.

A small cry of torment escaped his masked lips. He was the one who would be suffering so others didn't have to. And suffering he was.

* * *

It was hard to stand, it was hard to make her self leave him, but she had her orders. Orders were all she had left, she was sure of it. With out Naruto she had no hope of ever saving Sauske. With out the boys it would be just her and her broken sensei, Kakashi. His heart would brake and she wondered if he could take the news in his condition. She'd read his medical file, he was not as strong as people were lead to believe. She'd loose him too, she was sure of it.

With out her team she was nothing.

Stepping back she looked down once more in to his eyes. They were looking at her. Right at her. She sniffled and bent to close them.

"I. . . did that . . . already. . ."

The wind kicked up and she stood, dazed and shivering. The sky was turning color in preparation for the night. Naruto's hair ruffled in the stiff breeze. Slowly the eyelids peeled back.

Her heart skipped a beat and she stepped away.

The glassy eyes tracked her.

Swallowing she backed up another few paces.

The glassy eyes tracked her again.

Wiping her own eyes once more she took a slow breath. "Naruto?" His eyes weren't dilated. Stepping back up to the body she knelt, slowly, and felt a roll of chakra flow from his prone form. It was edgy, and sharp, like little razor blades. She wondered if it might be the fox, but that monster's chakra was like bubbles, wasn't it? Maybe it had changed as it was dieing.

His jaw twitched and his eyes refocused on her.

The word _zombie_ flooded her mind and she scurried back as shock and fear washed out the grief and numb.

What ever was looking at her _it_ wasn't Naruto.

* * *

OK, I DO know what music I want for Naruto... If you are a Red Vs Blue Fan or not it doesn't matter... 'We are the Meta' is the perfect musical score for Naruto right now.


	12. Welcome to the Jungle

Hey all! Sorry this took a while, another long chapter! Another 24 pages, holly cow! While I have had a lot of good feed back about the story it's self I have been getting some (OK, a LOT) of comments on my spelling. Truth is I can't spell to save my life. SO I'm asking if any one would be interested in beta reading this for me. After the next chapter, Chapter 13, I'll be taking a short brake to try and whip this all in to proper shape. So if ANY ONE is interested DO let me know! I'd love you forever!

NOW, about this chapter it's self. Part of the reason it took me so long to write is because I suddenly found my self with both Sai and Guy to try and write for. Not only are they extreme characters, but on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum! Guy will probably feel a little OOC in this chapter, but that was actually intentional. Sai.... *Throws hands up* I have no idea how well I did with him.

As always, Comments are my fuel to keep writing, so even if it's a short 'hi, loved your story' that would be wonderful! Even better, tell me what parts you liked and hated in each chapter so I can lean from it! I promise I'll reply to all comments that I can reply to!

Last but not least, I want to update this every friday if I can, so don't show me any mercy if I'm late next week!

And now, back to the story!

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**Welcome to the Jungle**

* * *

Sakura backed up in cold dread until she hit the solid trunk of a tree. Cutting up through the air sickly yellow chakra formed ragged ears and a lone yellow tail from Naruto's prone body. As the chkara shown brighter in the ever dimming light the corpse lurched; it's arms started to twitch. The head turned and blood poured out of the corner if his -_it's_- mouth. The jaw, having been locked in a silent scream of torment, slowly hinged shut. The cold dead fish eyes closed and then reopened to focus once more on her.

Sakura made a jerk to pull off the tree, to run, to flee, but her knees had locked up. Churning almost violently, her stomach threatened to revolt. She swallowed fearfully and gripped the rough bark so hard she felt it scratch her skin. Emotions swelled and spun her head till she was physically dizzy. Despite the evening call of birds and animals, readying for a nights adventure, all she could hear was the sound of her own heart thundering in her ears.

'Naruto' lurched and sluggishly tried to move, but the legs were unresponsive. Bitting back her fear Sakura managed to take a step, not away, but towards the reanimated flesh and bone. The limbs were starting to wither, bit by bit, and it's cheeks were becoming more and more hollow looking. At first she couldn't understand, then she saw the hole in the chest was smaller. Ribs formally burnt and charred were turning white again and growing.

It made sense, all at once, that the beast with in was using what ever it could sacrifice in one last ditch effort to heal the shattered body.

Taking another step forward Sakura found that she, rather than numb with terror like she had been, had a new twinge of hope starting to flicker to life with in her. As the sun was turning a radiant blood red hope sprung up like the baby blue of a new dawn. Still, even if the wound was healed, the whole process would inevitably sap every available resource from the teen's body. Naruto would be nothing more than a skeleton with thin skin covering atrophied muscles and degenerate organs.

It needed to have a replenishing supply of organic material, more importantly, it needed blood. Neither of which Sakura had in any sufficient quantity. Her medical training kicked in all at once and she found her self all but running towards the broken body. If Naruto had any chance what so ever the beast with in needed her help. She just hoped it would recognize that.

Naruto had told her the Fox could talk, so maybe in this half dead and desperate state it would listen to her. As she approached however it's eyes narrowed venomously and lips pealed back in a mute snarl. With out lungs it couldn't form sound. With out lungs Naruto's brain wasn't getting any oxygen, but then again, neither were his reforming ribs. She decided not to nitpick what was happening as this was far above and beyond her full understanding.

In any case the snarl did not detour her, rather it spurred her on. Now at his side she could see through the hole that the skin of his back was mostly reformed, though it had grass and twigs and who knew what else mangled up with in. Muscle was also forming and the spine, formally nothing but two drippy ends of bone and nerves, was regenerating. Miniature lungs were blossoming under the ribs and a small mass of red and purple started to throb.

But there was no blood.

Glancing around she knew she needed to get the body dehydrated; she knew she needed to get water. The river was just below the yawning chasm of stone and earth, but she had no way to transport water from it in any grate quantity. Her mind snapped to the canteens in the packs and she felt a small smile. They were probably nearly full still and would be more than enough to rehydrate him.

"Don't move, I'll be right back." She told him. . . it. . .

It snarled again, this time air passing in a little gasp. The spine was still unformed and it's legs were still limp.

"Ah. . . never mind, you can't move yet any way." She turned away, confident now that the body could be salvaged, when a more horrifying thought hit her. Suppose it was ONLY the body that came back? Naruto him self was the ONLY thing that stood between the Fox and the out side world. If Naruto was gone then his chakra would be gone and there would be nothing left to keep the seal in place.

She pushed the thought aside. They were far from the village if that was the case, and besides, why heal him if the fox could be free any way? It didn't make sense. Her feet hit the wood of the bridge and she turned to glance back. The legs were starting to move a little in small spasms, but the whole thing was uncoordinated and sloppy. His limbs were thin and even from the distance she could see all of the bones in the face. She finished the bridge and raced to the well hidden packs. She rummaged through them all gathering all of the water supply she could find before racing back.

By the time she returned it had managed to sit up on it's elbows and the hole was half as big as it had been. Clearly all of the organs it had lost were there, if only in a smaller and more withered state. The regeneration had slowed to a near crawl and every thing looked dry and parched. She wondered if she could get it to drink, but decided not to risk getting near the fangs. She had a better idea any way.

Unscrewing a cap she pored the water in to the hole it's self. The watter pooled for a minute, then sank in to the shriveled flesh. It growled at her but she ignored it and pored out a second canteen. The wound started to close faster. Working as quickly as she could she emptied three more before the ribs were a cage again. The bone lay naked, however, as the skin and flesh had stopped growing back leaving the sternum and parts of the finger like ribs exposed.

An angry, dark snarl escaped his lips and a new thought popped in to her mind. It needed flesh to finish the job, and she was made almost entirely of it. While it looked like nothing more than gray skin draped over frail bones it still had the power of a tailed beast. It lurched towards her and she dropped the last of the canteens.

"Stay back!"

It crawled forward, teeth and claws bared. Lifting it's clawed hand it took a swiped at her leg, instinct and combat lessons washed over her and like a reflex she kicked. Her foot connected with his jaw and there was a bone crunching, stomach churning, snap. It flew back and howled in rage and pain.

"Don't try to eat me!" She snapped.

Looking back at her from where it had landed, on all fours, it shied away with a hiss. Blood was again drooling from it's mouth, which had a decidedly lopsidedness to it now. She had shattered the left side of it's jaw.

It still needed to feed, but both knew she was not available as it's next meal. Turning away from her it started to lurch towards the river with halting four footed steps.

"Naruto. . ."

The tail swished and she felt the hair raise as a blast of chakra started to gather in side of it. Racing ahead she turned and looked back. There was a dazzling glow coming up from the ribs. Focusing on the sheer rock face below her she scanned for a way down. All she could see was jagged rocks and steep walls.

"Don't do it, you'll fall and brake every thing all over again!"

It trotted past her, moving faster now, and lunged. With chakra powering the moment it sailed to the other side of the cliffs and landed violently in a vertical crouch. Bones could be heard snapping and it howled again.

Worrying her lip Sakura started to descend her side, careful of any miss step. She alternately watched her feet and the animated body as they both picked their way down on opposite sides. He reached the water first and, with a scream, let the ball of chakra go in to the watter. The dirty river exploded sending a freezing spray up higher than the rock walls. Fish were killed instantly and rained down like grotesque manna from heaven.

'Naruto' grabbed one of the fish that had landed near by and ate it, flesh, bones, head and all.

Sakura, soaking wet now, was clinging to the rock wall with all she had. The sudden impromptu rain storm had cooled what emotional fevered energy she'd had from her body. Shivering she held on and watched, both fascinated and disgusted by the creature below.

Finished with the fish it grabbed another and ate with the same indiscriminate hunger it had with the first one. Once the second was gone it devoured a third. With each fish it ate the body began to fill out. Arms thickened and the hallow gaunt look in it's face was vanishing.

Yet the ears and tail were still flowing from it's body and the dark rings were still around it's eyes. Despite the apparent life flowing through the flesh and bone there were still no signs of Naruto. It was slowing now and acting much less frantic to eat. It grabbed another fish and brought it to the water's edge to wash it carefully. As it took a bite out of the fish's slimy belly it looked up at her with a hiss and those horrible, awful, ringed, dead eyes.

* * *

The forest, with it's imposing old wood trees and lofty branch-work highways, was chancing to some thing all together different. Wide open paths in the canopy where ninja liked to travel were slowly becoming over grown and slick with moss. Vines were becoming more abundant, wrapping them selves along the trunks and limbs, and stretching in the traveling trio's formally clear paths.

Keeping his profile small as he followed the Serpent Sannin and the S-ranked Medic, Sai took note of the darkening woods and it's shift in growth patters. The air felt more moist and the plants they were now passing were more parasitic in nature. Fungus and tree dwelling ferns were growing abundantly here, chocking the trees.

Another hundred yards brought even more vines in to Sai's path. He found him self having to employ near acrobatics just to keep him self in the trees. Now, as he ducked under a particularly thick vine, he could see some of the trees were withering. Animals screeched in the leaves around him, and some where some thing screamed. He couldn't tell if it was human or not.

Then all at once the stately forest was gone, now he was fighting for every foot hold in a hot, muggy, over grown canopy. He gasped for air as the hot moisture sapped his energy from him. He stumbled on a nasty thorned vine and threw him self forward, avoiding a spiny looking plant dripping scarlet sap. Before he could fall completely a thick, brawny, white snake wrapped it's self around him and pulled him back. Hissing laughter sounded from over head. Sai looked up and saw Orochimaru looking down with an amused sneer.

"Welcome to the jungle."

Sai continued to gasp for air as he panned his surroundings. It was a jungle, thick and treacherous, and every thing _crawled_. He steadied his breathing and looked back up at the Sannin. "An appropriate hiding place for a snake based ninja. It's dark, and it smells."

Orohimaru's face shifted from amusement to some thing else entirely. "I have many hiding places, boy, not all of them are as this one is."

Sai wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he kept silent. The snake brought him up and dropped him in front of Orochimaru, who was scowling a little. The older ninja's hand shot out fast as lighting and snatched up a fist-ful of Sai's hair.

"You have offended me." He hissed.

"I was stating a fact." Sai replied flatly. The fist tightened and pain laced over his scalp as hair was pulled from the roots.

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

"No." He was yanked closer.

"Aren't you afraid to die?"

"I am not." Sai replied. "Nor do I fear pain. Or isolation. I am my master's tool."

The serpent Sannin's tongue flicked out and tested the air. "Strange child." He said at length. "He reminds me of you, Kabuto, when we first met."

The silver haired ninja, still wounded looking, but having no trouble navigating the new environment, glared darkly. "I was never that rude." He huffed and added, just under his breath, ". . . reminds me of that wretch, Sauske."

The snake ninja smiled a little and looked back over his shoulder at the medic. "Are you jealous?" He grinned. "You know Sauske is nothing more than meat to me."

Kabuto fixed his glasses with one finger, but said nothing.

Orohimaru sighed and Sai was released with out a second glance. He dropped to one knee and focused on the chakra of the ninja still standing over him. It oozed and dripped from every inch of the body, like sap from a wounded tree, like venom from fangs. Images of torture and glee flashed through Sai's mind and he made a mental note to sketch them latter. . .

He'd forgotten his sketch book. That was some thing he'd never done before. Well, to be honest, he''d done so once, but only after an extremely taxing fight when he was young. He'd recovered it the next day and had not parted with it since.

Mentally he traced his steps back and searched for the last place it had been. The last place he'd knowingly held it in his hands was when he was next to the now deceased jinchuriki. The fox's vessel was starting to panic and with the panic it's control of the fox's power was slipping. Thinking fast Sai tried to salvage the situation and avoid lethal conflict with the serpent sannin by showing the vessel the sketch of him self. He believed he was the monster, that was in-fact false, and Sai tried hard to prove it. It hadn't worked and now the fox was lost forever. That did not effect Sai's mission one way or the other. Nor would it affect Danzo's ultimate goal.

There were eight other tailed beasts to capture, but that would come latter. Right now his main focus was on the only human being that could with out doubt stop all of the plans Danzo had, Uchiha Sauske. Sai mentally refocused on his mission to kill the Uchiha, forcing his sketch book to the back of his mind.

He was about to stand again and suggest they continue, he'd recovered enough to go on, Orochimaru's attention snapped back towards the direction they had come from. He smiled and licked his teeth.

"We are being followed."

Kabuto jumped down next to him and peered out in to the dense foliage. "Shall I go and. . ."

Orichimaru waved him to silence. "You stay here and keep an eye on this one, I'll only be gone a minute."

Kabuto gave a short nod. "All right."

With out another word Orochimaru vanished, leaving Sai alone with the medic. He didn't expect to be addressed, but Kabuto turned towards him and frowned. "Why are you with us?"

"It is as I have said." Sai replied. "I have a mission to act as a liaison between my master and yours."

Kabuto's eyes narrowed. "You were on the same team as Naruto."

"That is correct." Sai affirmed with a nod.

"He's dead now."

"Yes. You killed him."

Kabto's frown deepened. "You don't seem concerned about the matter." He said. "Almost every one who has the opportunity to fight along side Naruto forms some sort of attachment to or hatred of him."

"I form no attachments. I am a tool for my master." The statement was as true as it was false. He'd been scolded once before for being to concerned over his sketch book. He would return for it, after his mission, of course.

Kabuto stared at him for a long moment before looking after where Orochimaru had gone. "With out the ability to understand even the most rudimentary emotions, Sai, you are a worthless tool."

"That depends on the tool's use." Sai replied flatly.

* * *

The night came in like a thousand soft whispers through the innumerable lush green leaves of the forest. Each second brought a new shade of red then blue then there were a hundred points of light in a frosty black velvet sky. Mirroring the diamonds and ink were dozens of shimmering floor tiles. Each single step he took was a measured one, right until he came to the hospital door he was more than acquainted with.

Guy steeled him self and grasped the knob tightly, not bothering to knock. Opening it softly he left the world to it's ever growing darkness and entered the hazy glow of halogen and white linen. Upon the bed Neji lay as if sleeping. The slight, yet steady, rise and fall of his chest was a rhythm more enchanting than all of the world's many cadence events. More glorious than the twins dawn and dusk, more lulling than the ocean racing and retreating, it was more than all of the patters of the whole world combined.

Guy shut the door with such stillness that the movement could have been a phantom. All of his skills honed from the battle with power and presence sharpened in to his stealth. He'd shut the world out forever if it could bar the worry and the revulsion from his student. But just as silence engulfed the night and lulled the world to sleep so would the coming of day bring it's cacophony of repulsive sonancy.

It was amazing just how very, very, frail looking the raven haired youth seemed as he lay under the linens. Yet under the hollow eyes and porcelain skin Guy knew a radiant fire burned that would, if properly kindled, flair and blaze overcome the horrid situation they currently faced. He knew because it was the same fire hotly raging through his own veins.

They both had the fire to _protect_.

Almost two long weeks had come and gone inch by inch with the dusk and dawn sense the night they'd been in the Hyuga compound. Guy rubbed his hands over his knuckles as he remembered trying to convince Hiashi to see the world in a more youthful way.

_The man was as cold as stone and Guy had started to suspect then that every last flicker of youthful passion had been doused to indifference with the many years of wilding a heartless iron fisted hand over the supposed lesser branch. Guy thrust his passion in oration against Hiashi's stone cold platitude, but made little head way. It was not long before he was on the edge of demanding to fight for Neji's honor, and Hiashi on the edge of having him forcibly thrown out, when a blood curtailing scream ripped through the halls and silenced every word between them. Utter silence followed and Guy felt his bones freeze like the merciless iced caped mountains in the forbidding Land of Snow._

Guy padded mutely up to the bed side and swallowed back the bitter feelings that he knew would sap all of the youth from his bones. The joints in his fingers were already starting to hurt and he knew his knees would be next. Fear and anger were poison and would kill a child in ways only old men were supposed to die. Neji looked far older than he had on their last mission, a tragedy that hurt in Guy's very soul.

If not exceedingly careful the bright yet small flame of young passion would be snuffed for ever. That scream, that cold, gut churning, scream was a wind that raged against youth and tried to asphyxiate hope from the very air around them.

_He stood, feeling irrepressible urgency like he'd never felt before, and run. No one else moved. The noble men had been softened by years of sitting in strong walls and taking comfortable small missions. Yes they trained, and yes they fought, but when had they last been in a blood soaked battle? This was not the scream of anger or rage the nobles were used to, this was an agony filled death cry. _

_Guy nearly collided with little Hinnata as he ran, but with skill like a cat jumped to the side and snatched her shoulders all in the same move. She was shaking and crying and babbling nonsense. _

"_What happened?" He'd demanded. He would have added a flourish of reassurance and addressed her properly, mentioning her youth and resolve, but thought he recognized the voice that had cried out. He needed to know, and yet didn't want to. "Who screamed?"_

_She pointed and, with a shivering and a whisper, she said "Neji."_

_The look in her young eyes, so much like the milk clouded eyes of __**his**__ Hyuga student, told him all he needed to know. He let her go and ran. His boned were no longer cold, but melting with the heat of a hundred, thousand suns, burning with fear he would not acknowledge._

Guy pulled him self back to the present with a shudder. Feeling his body growing older and more tired by the minute he sighed. "I'm sorry."

Reaching down he ran his finger over Neji's smooth cheek. It was hot with feaver as an infection had soon taken hold in the wound. The youth shifted and whined plaintively but did not wake up. "I should have been there for you sooner! To think I wasted to much time, while your youth was slipping by. I'm sorry."

_He came to the heavy doors of the grate Hyuga weapons hall and threw them open. The room before him was mostly dark with small orbs of light lining the enormous ivory walls. At first, despite his awesome training and diligent self taught discipline for environments not his own, he did not see Neji. Then there was a flutter of movement, like a wounded fledgling fallen from it's lofty nest. Guys eyes locked on in half a heart beat, and at the site his heart seemed to stop. While he saw his precious child before him, his mind blanked. At first, he could not proses the image of __**his**__ child curled up on the floor clutching a ragged wound in his stomach. When the terrible reality did sink in it flooded Guy with such fear and helplessness that the only thing he could compare it to was when Gaara had shattered Lee's spine. He'd nearly died that day, died from shame and guilt and fear._

_For a moment all he could do was stand in mute horror as blood flowed like water and Neji gasped weakly for air. "Neji?"_

_His head lifted from the floor, his milk clouded yes looked up in unbridled agony. "G-guy sen-sei. . ." They shut tightly and he reached out with one trembling, crimson dripping, hand. "Help me."_

_Instantly Guy was at his student's side, cradling him in his arms, trying to stop the rampant flow of scarlet. "Who did this to you?!" _

_Neji's eyes opened and tears sprung up but he'd refused to cry. "H-Hinata."_

"_. . .No. . ." The slender handed, soft spoken, spotless flower of youth could not have done such a thing. Guy's mind would not take the answer. _

"_My fault." Neji shuddered, the color was draining from his already pale face. "My fault. . . made her. . . angry."_

"_Not Hinata." Guy swalowed. "She'd never. . ."_

"_She didn't mean to!" Neji cut him off. "I told her not to. . . not to love Naruto. Some thing is strange about him. I saw his chakra. . .Some thing h-happened to him on our last mission. He's not. . . safe. . ." He seized suddenly and let out a keening cry of pain" Please, pull it out." His hand reached for the Kuni that was still burried to the hilt._

"_NO!" Guy blocked his hand quickly and looked at the wound for the first time. They had never had a true medic on their team. Ten-Ten was a heavy weapons expert, not a medic like the other girls on the other teams. After Lee's spine had shattered Guy promised he'd be the one to care four wounds, and from that day forth extensive medical training was slipped in when ever his youth filled students needed rest. _

_He dared not pull the weapon out, it might be holding back the flow of blood. "No if we remove this you might. . ." He choked on the last word. "I'm going to try and wrap this."_

_Neji shook his head. "Hurts."_

"_I know." Guy let his dear, pricelss, student rest against his raised knee as he pulled his green shirt off and tore it in to strips. Neji make only soft whimpers as he bound the weapon in place tightly. _

_Cloudy eyes opened once more when he was almost done. "They'll kill her if they find out."_

"_Why?"_

_He blinked blankly. "Just as they killed my father. . . Tell them. . . tell them I did this to my self." _

"_No!" Guy stared back, shocked. "Such a thing will strip you of honor!"_

"_I never had honor." His eyes closed as the last flickers of life were draining from his young body. "Promise me you won't tell them the truth. Promise me you'll protect Hinata." His hands, shaking and slick with blood, clutched feebly at Guy's. "Promise me!"_

"_I promise."_

It seemed like a whole life time ago, like a memory of a different world or a distant and hazy dream. A world where his universe was unraveling and his way of life was being striped from his very soul. He had been watching, helplessly, as live was eking its way out of _his_ Hyuga. It felt like a very long lifetime ago.

Now, standing over his charge, only the sterile world of the hospital and the ever present hum of medical equipment was his reality. Again he stroked the cheek. "You deserve so much more than this."

At the sound of Guy's soft voice and tender touch the dark haired youth's eyes blinked open slowly. He shifted again and tried to lift his head. Gently Guy pressed his chest down. "Sleep. I will be here."

There was a tiny, limp headed, nod. Then, with a sketch of a sigh, Neji fell back in to a troubled heavy sleep. Guy reached down and took his student's hand. Exhaustion was eating away at his body, devouring his own manly youth, but he would not sleep. Not tonight. Like his silver haired eternal rival he too had to protect his students, but his protection was not from the dread nine tailed fox, but rather from a dark haired noble lord and his clan's arrogant minded poison.

* * *

Yamato bounded after the trio and tried, hard as he could, to focus. Images of the charred body were flashing through his mind faster than he could count the trees passing by. He could see those dead eyes looking up at him. Looking in to his soul.

No! A dead person can't see.

He refocus on the mission at hand, or what was left of it. He knew he'd be unable to capture the spy or kill him, not when it was Kabuto. All he could do was retrieve Sai and Sakura and report the losses to the village. Report the losses to Umino Iruka who, every one knew, had quasi adopted Naruto. Report the fact that Naruto was dead.

He'd have to report every thing in detail, how the boy had been killed, and what had lead to his death. He'd have to tell them about that hole in his chest. . . he'd leave out the eyes. The haunting, horrible, eyes. Eyes that seemed to stare despite the lack of life in them.

His foot snagged on a rather large and obvious limb sending him sprawling forward rater than running. He thrust his chakra out and landed harshly on a tree trunk with a gasp.

"Focus." He whispered to him self. "Focus you are ANBU."

He closed his eyes and once more the vision of Naruto's body filled his mind. He knew, deep down, why this had affected him so. While the death of the nine tails was some thing to feel relived about it's vessel was well liked by the Hokage and many of the active ninja of his own age. The loss would reverberate for years.

Not to mention what the news would do to the silver haired ninja still recovering back in the city. Yamato couldn't bring him self to even think the name, or, more painfully, what the news would do to the ailing man. Knowing his former captain as he did he knew the report would be a staggering blow. A blow more harsh than the strike of any enemy.

Feelings churned and for a moment he couldn't bring him self to quell them. He wouldn't just sit there, though, he was still on a mission.

He took another breath and shoved off the tree. Focus. Sai was still out there, in danger most likely. Focus. He needed to get the youth back to safety. _Focus_. He needed to get back to Sakura who had been left alone with the bod. . . _**FOCUS!**_ He needed to round up what was left of the team and report home.

Report to Kakashi.

His foot snagged again and this time he landed awkwardly in the grass. At first he felt sure he was alone, then some thing slithered up to him. Snakes bound him before he could move away. There was a liquid laugh and moment from the shrubbery.

"Ahh.... Tenzou. I've missed you."

"Orochimaru!" He turned up and glared. He'd heard stories of the Sannin from the time he could crawl, stories about abduction and experiments. Stories that had, once upon a time, given him nightmares and visions of a boogy man waiting to snatch him away in the dark.

"I thought about killing you back there." Yamato winced as a white scaly hand ran over his head gently. "But you are my last one. I had a lot of hope for you and what you hold in your body." The hand continued to caress. "You have no idea how special you are, Tenzou."

"Get your filthy hands off me." Yamato tugged hard at his living bonds, but he could not pull free.

"Easy." Orochimaru hissed softly. "I have no interest in harming you child. Rather I want to send you home with a message for my dear Tsunade."

Yamato glared. "What message?"

"I want you to tell her I'm sorry I killed her little brat, but I also want her to know that it was in self defence only." He sneered, not looking sorry at all. "Tell her that now with out her presious nine tails to hid behind I will invade Konoha, but I will show mercy if she orders every one to surrender to me. There does not have to be blood shed again."

Yamato fought his bonds again, but they only constricted tighter. "Why would I or any other shinobi of the leaf even consider delivering a message from the likes of you?"

"Because. . ." He leaned close. ". . . If you do not tell them I'm coming then you'll have failed to warn them of the danger they are in. Every death will be on your head." He laughed.

"Monster." Yamato spat. "The leaf will not bow to you."

"It doesn't have to bow, it just has to submit. I'l take a corps just as quickly as I'll take a servent. They each have a use to me. Like the body of Naruto, for example. . ."

"His body has been burned!" Yamato felt the emotions wash over him and drown his cool. Orochimaru only laughed.

"No matter, I don't need it. I have my guards out in abundance now, knowing you and and the _last_ of your pesky team mates are near by, so if you try to follow me they will kill you." He leaned closer and Yamato felt hot breath on his neck. "To ensure you behave like a good little boy I'm going to give you some incentive." Fangs, long and sharp, dug in to his shoulder.

Yamato grunted, but refused to cry out as venom was pumped in and burned under his skin.

"Tsunade has the antidote." Orochimaru whispered as he pulled away, licking his lips. "You have two days to get it before you start to feel your nervous system shutting down. A day after that to live."

Nausea flooded his system and he choked. "Bastard." He managed. The snakes were pulling away as Orochimaru laughed again.

"Three days, Tenzou. Then you die unless you return home." The serpent's laughter followed him as he disappeared back in to the forest.

* * *

Kakashi drew in a rough breath as he lay sprawled, spent, over the bed sheets. He had pushed him self right to the edge, but this time he'd not gone over it. He was again out of chakra, but as he rested from his efforts, he knew that was not going to be the case for long.

And besides that now that the day was winding down and night was crawling over the land he had both the time and energy to think. It was true he was exhausted, but it wasn't the sort of exhaustion that came from almost being dead. This was the sort of fatigue one would get from a hard day's work, and a hard day it had been. He'd been questioned and tried and turned apon. In the end however he had found trust once more. Both Jiraya and Guy had promised to be there, even after all that had happened.

He wasn't alone.

A breeze ruffled the white curtains and cooled the heat from his body and chased the last dusty cob web from his mind. He reached up and laced his fingers together behind his bed. Pain was still washing over him now and then, but this was different, this pain didn't make him feel like he was about to die. This felt like a body taxed to the limit, but not pushed over the edge.

As good as he felt even with the pain, worry continued to tug at his mind, worry for Naruto. He tried to reassure him self that his blond charge would be OK, but it wasn't easy. The whole world seemed to be after him now. A ripple of pain washed over him and he winced. Every move would be torture in the morning, but he would take it, he could take it. It would be noting to him if it meant he could be there when the Akastuki came, or the Fox tormented, or the villagers hissed and booed.

All the pain in the world was but a dark tunnel that had a flicker of light at the end. It was a small flicker, but it was there. Naruto had sworn he'd become Hokage and nothing would brake naruto from keeping his promises. That was his ninja way.

Kakashi smiled lightly as he remembered the first time they had had met. The brat had rigged an eraser to fall on his head. He'd ignored it then, but at the time he could almost hear Minato laughing. He'd refused to acknowledge the kid then, refused to connect to his own past. He'd been wrong, and that hurt far more than the cramps and spasms he was suffering now. He'd make it up to Naruto.

A soft knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts and he struggled to sit back up. The door opened as he made it to his elbows. Jiraya, holding bloodied cloth to his nose, entered and looked him over sternly. "You still up?"

"Yes." Kakashi tossed up a smile, hoping to avoid a lecture on how he should be resting.

"Well try to get some sleep. In the morning I'm going to see if you can hold any thing down. The sooner you can get solid food to settle the sooner you can get out of here."

Kakashi lowered him self back down, and felt the worry roll over him again. "You'll have to fight Tsunade . . ."

"We already had a spat." Jiraya waved his hand dismissively.

"The nose?"

The pervy sage grinned and sat down on the other bed. "Lets just say every win is a loss when it comes to women."

Kakashi wasn't sure what that meant, but knew enough about the older ninja not to ask for details so he changed the subject to what was on his mind. "Have you heard any thing about Naruto's mission?"

"Not yet. But he is going to be back." Jiraya fairly radiated confidence in his own statment, even with the rag stuffed over his face.

Kakashi turned his attention to the ceiling, not quite sure he was ready to feel that hopeful yet. "He's loosing him self."

"Now you listen here, Brat." Jiraya said sounding both serous and a little stuffy. Kakashi looked back at him attentively. "That kid will be just fine. He _will_ be back. He's got more spirit than you and I combined PLUS what ever Moinato had."

"But he's so. . ."

Jiraya cut him off with another hand wave. "Stop. What ever he is going through he's got both you and me to back him up. You already proved how far you'll go to protect him, just remember given the opportunity I'll be just as determined. And so would Tsunade."

Kakashi shifted, feeling uncomfortable thinking of the Hokage, but he knew Jiraya was right. There was little any one of them wouldn't do for Naruto.

* * *

Iruka refused to just give up. Even though the forest was passing by he could not see it clearly. He was trapped some where just beyond reality.

_'You'll never be able to hide your self in my world. No one will think you are me.'_

"You have a hard time telling a lie, Iruka, but I don't. You are such a little lamb. The Dolphin, a noble and soft hearted creature. I am a Shark." He sneered. "Sharks hide so well they can swim right through a school and take any little fish they want." There was a vicious hungry grin to accompany the words.

_'Don't you DARE touch one of my students!'_

"You can't stop me." He paused on a branch, checking his direction. "Besides I'm not after one of those small fry. I want some thing much bigger."

_'Naruto.'_ Iruka felt anger swell through him and just for a moment the forest cleared and he could feel bark under his hands, but he was slammed back in to the other worldly prison mercilessly.

"Stay in your tank, gold fish, or I will eat you up."

Iruka sank down and sat in his strange prison. '_Some one will notice, __**Fuka**__.'_

"Fuka?" He grinned coldly. "I like that."

They were moving again and Iruka felt a little jolt of adrenalin hit him. _ 'What's going on?'_

'Fuka' did not answer, but halted in his tracks. Standing suddenly before them was Asuma and Shikamaru.

The dark haired boy looked them over keenly. "Umino Iruka you are to come with us back to the village for questioning."

"On what grounds?" Fuka asked innocently.

Shikamaru lifted some thing metallic in to the air. It was the shovel. "Some thing does not add up, and you are the odd number."

Iruka felt a strange smile spread. "I enjoy seeing how your intelligence has blossomed, Shikamaru. Please, if you wish to ask me questions, do not hesitate."

Asuma stepped up then and took hold of his arm. "We aren't going to ask you any thing, the Hokage is."

"Then lead the way."

* * *

Silver strands of moon light touched the soft skin of the dark haired Hyuga as Guy watched vigilantly over him. Silence had once more engulfed the two and only the gentle sound of the youth's breathing could be heard. It was lulling. Guy's head began to nod and dip.

He hadn't slept in days. The whole world was starting to look dull. He could hardly manage to strike a pose. But he'd mostly been here in this room so he wasn't sure who all would notice.

He was supposed to be out on a mission with every other ninja, He was supposed to be with his whole team saving Naruto. Naruto wasn't supposed to be slowly going mad.

His head dipped again and for a moment, even though he was on his feet, he felt sleep creep in to his body. He swayed just a little. . .

The door crashed open, slamming Guy's attention back to full. Instinct kicked in where conscious thought failed and he pulled a kunai from it's holster while spinning towards the door. Quick as lightning he readied to throw it, but stopped just at the instant of true attack when he saw the man who had entered. Hiashi Hyuga stared at him while white light from the hall flowed past him. Even thought he was cast in back lit shadow his eyes glowed a pale lavender and cream. Guy gripped the weapon tight, unable to bring him self to throwing it, but not willing to back down from the invader.

Hiashi stepped in and two other Hyuga men followed him. "Stand down, Might Guy, or we will remove you forcibly from this room."

"You can not drag me from my student, nor can you frighten me away." He spread his feet, found his center, and held the weapon up. "You will have to kill me."

"Take him." Hiashi said coldly.

The two rushed him, each with fingers poised to strike his chakra points. He'd trained with Neji enough times to see through their moves. Compared to his still unconscious student their moves were crude, sloppy, and easily read. One went left while the other went right. Guy kiched to the left with his foot and struck to the right with the Kunai. The blade hit it's mark, digging deep in to the arm of his opponent. The other caught the kick in his chest and was sent flying back in to a chair. The resulting clatter and cry of pain was enough to bring Neji back to the waking world.

Guy backed up and stood next to his student while eying the two guards. The one pulld the Kunai out while the other was pulling him self to his feet.

"Guy Sensei!" He felt Neji clutch his shirt from behind. Feaver and heat radiated from his slim frame.

"They won't take you." He replied, and reached back to reassure him with a touch.

Again on their feet the men sprung forward, this time each had a weapon drawn. Guy let go of Neji as he stepped forward and moved to counter and block. Instead of thrusting steel to his bone as he expected they passed him. For just an instant he didn't understand, then he realized and spun. "NEJI!"

The youth was pinned under one while the other held blade to the child's throat.

Guy took a step, shocked they would attack a child while ill in bed. Anger started to biol up in side and he pulled another weapon from it's holster. "You cowards. . ." His words were cut off as fingers slammed in to his spine and delivered a paralyzing pulse of chakra. His knees buckled but he was caught by Hiashi. The two guards abandoned Neji and took Guy's limp form from the Clan leader.

"Remove him from this room. Make sure he will not interfere."

Guy tried to fight, but his limbs were limp. The two Hyuga guards started to drag him out. More anger rushed him and he managed to growl, chasing the numb from his mouth. "If you so much as touch Neji I'll. . ."

"You have no power against even a single Hyuga." Hiashi turned his back and stepped up to the bed. Guy fought again, but was still to numb to move. As he was pulled to the door another man loomed before him.

With long blond hair in a tight pony tail and cold steel blue eyes, Inoichi Yamanaka looked like the reaper of death him self. Guy was far to stunned from the sight of this mind reader to even form a protest. He was pilled out of the room completely. As the door swung shut he could hear the cold words of the head Hyuga floating out.

"Search him throughly. Discover his motives and if he or my eldest daughter pose a threat to Hanabi." The door closed with a sickening finality.

* * *

"You know. . ." Jiraya said slowly. "Your father would have been proud of you for taking such a strong protective stand over Naruto."

Kakashi dipped his head at the sudden mention of the man who'd been dead for so long. "My . . father?"

"Yes. Minato too."

An odd mix of memories and feeling flowed with the pain and exhaustion. It took Kakashi several moments to ride the waves of unease and anxiety before he could look up again. Jiraya had never once spoken to him of either man unless it was key information regarding a mission. To hear him speak freely and candidly of them now was strange. Kakashi wasn't sure he liked it.

As if sensing his troubled mind Jiraya added, "But I'm not proud of you yet."

Looking up Kakashi frowned. "You're not?"

"No, and I won't be until you start to look after your own health as well as the health and wellbeing of others. So will you take it easy?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Get some rest, kiddo. We have a long day tomorrow."

"All right."

Jiraya stood and stepped up to the bed. He placed one large, strong, hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "You'll see, every thing will be just fine by this time tomorrow."

The warmth of the hand and the strength of the words melted the last chill of worry from Kakashi's mind. He smiled again, but this time he didn't have to force it. "I trust you."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me I need me some ice." He gave the shoulder a squeeze then left the room. In the following soft silence Kakashi closed his eyes and finally let him self relax. There was nothing more he could do right now, so why not just rest? Naruto would be back, and they would find away to help him.

Moments latter he was asleep, peace now settling in where fear had been.

* * *

Night was drawing it's blanket thickly over the woods. Yamato stumbled over the tangled roots of trees as he picked his way back towards the bridge. He could scale the trees and run, making his return speedy, time was of the essence for him after all, but he couldn't bring him self to do so. His every thought was not on his own situation, but on the team he had failed.

The sooner he reached Sakura the sooner he'd have to face her pain. And after that he'd have to go home and tell _him_.

Maybe if he went slow enough he'd have just enough time to tell Kakashi the news before the poison took him. It was the cowards way out and he knew it. Sakura was still alive, any way, he hadn't lost every one.

Taking a breath he took a step up one imposing trunk, and then another. Inch by inch, step after step, his determination grew. He would return to Konoha, and he'd do so with Sakura. He couldn't bring Naruto back, but he'd make sure Kakashi had at least one person left. Maybe with Sakura by his side he'd be able to cope with the loss.

Besides, he did have to warn the village about Orochimaru. His life still held meaning and for that reason and that reason alone he'd live. For the first time in many years confidence did not come from the cold mask of ANBU, but from a sense of importance it's self.

* * *

The numb in Guys limbs faded leaving a hint of pain. He'd been left in an unoccupied room on one of the beds alone. The Hyuga had told him it would be hours before he'd be able to move even a finger. He clutched the bed sheets tightly. Rage was chasing much of the shock off. While it was still a slow proses to Guy only a half of an hour had passed from the time he'd been struck.

He sat up and wobbled. Anger like the raging waves of a torrent sea was crashing through his mind, washing hatred up and over his senses. He swung his stiff legs over the side of the bed and was pleased they would support his weight.

All of Neji's attacks had been so much stronger and so much more pain full then Hiashi's that this felt like a morning after a good long training session. It was almost laughable how weak the leader really was.

Almost. The mind reader was still in his student's room at said leader's request.

"_Promise me you won't tell them the truth. Promise me you'll protect Hinata." His hands, shaking and slick with blood, clutched feebly at Guy's. "Promise me!"_

"_I promise."_

His walking was stiff, like the decrepit shuffle of an old man, but it was progress. He reached the door and yanked it open. He was relived to see that he was not far from Neji's room, just two doors away in fact. Stepping out he looked cautiously for the guards. They were no where to be seen.

Feeling almost whole again he padded out softly and reached for the knob. Just before his fingers could latch in it started to twist. Jumping back he lifted the kunai and pulled his body in to a defensive position. The door opened reviling Hiashi. The two locked eyes, Guy's in silent rage while Hiashi's showed a touch of shock.

"What have you done to my student?" Guy demanded in a low growl. The thought of this man restraining his youth, while another ransacked his young mind. . . Another wave of anger washed up and he clutched his weapon tight.

"We were not able to find out much." Inoichi said from behind the Hyuga. He stepped past the dark haired man and gave Guy a flat stare. "You have trained him well, he resisted me every step of the way."

Guy's eyes narrowed. "He's stronger than his clan gives him credit for."

"He is strong." Inoichi said with a slight nod. "But he will bend to my methods. I will let him rest now, but in the morning we will be back."

Guy's eyes turned again to Hiashi. "I won't let you do this a second time to him."

"You have no choice." He replied flatly. "Nither you, or the Hokage, have the right to meddle with the Hyuga clan's affairs. You can not understand how his actions have tainted the honor of our clan."

"There is no honor in your clan." Guy snapped.

"We shall see." He replied.

"If you think you can ever touch my student again then you will be in for a sorry surprise! I, Might Guy, the Green Beast of Konoha, will _never_ let you _near_ Neji again!" He didn't strike a pose, he wasn't sure his limbs would hold him out of the stable defensive position, but he knew his words held the power he wanted.

Despite all of his passion, however, Hiashi looked unconvinced and borderline annoyed. "We shall see." He said simply. At that the two men turned and left.

Guy gaped as he watched them stroll off down the hall with out any care apparent between them. Neji meant nothing to them, _nothing_. He stood, holding the steel weapon aloft, for several moments, before he relaxed his stance. The night was well worn now, the last of the moon light was shining from the still opened door of the room. They would come back and they would ravage the ill child like a dog on a bone. He couldn't let them. He WOULDN'T let them!

He holstered his weapon and entered with out another moment's hesitation. From his bed Neji moaned and clutched his head in pain. Guy hurried to his side.

"Neji, my poor student, they have pillaged your thoughts." Gingerly he reached out and brushed back the long loose strands of hair while trying to maintain a level voice.

"I didn't. . . let them . . ." He wheezed.

"I know." Guy stood back, tall and shoulders square. "I'm going to take you from here."

He looked up through his fingers blankly for a long moment. "Take?"

"Take you away. We'll hide until you are strong enough to fight them back. If you return to your family after that, that is up to you. But for now. . ." He felt tears threatening to spill. "I will take you and keep you safe! I will guard you with my very life!"

Neji stared, dully for a moment, then nodded. "OK."

Reaching down Guy unhooked the IV before lifting the feverishly hot teen up. He wasn't sure where they could hide, but any where had to be better than here!

* * *

Dark leaves and pale snakes gave way as green water dripped off of towering pillars of stone. Sai gazed around the strange, muggy, world around him and gaped at the sheer size of the plants. Before him, like a long mountain range, an enormous shimmering pearl scaled snake slithered by. It flicked it tongue out, thick as a man's arm, and studied Sai with gold yellow eyes.

"This one reeks." He said, his voice low and rumbling.

Orohimaru reached out and stroked the serpents nose. "He's from the leaf."

"I don't trust him."

"You don't have to." Orochimaru said with a small grin. "Now move."

The snake began to slither, inching his way in to the forest. As he passed a gaping, fanged mouth, of a cave was relieved. Orochimaru smiled. "Come, My other pets will be far more interested in you, Sai."

Sai followed the sannin haired man down in to the cold dry cave silently. On every surface some thing slithered, crawled, or writhed. Sai pulled him self to the middle of the tunnel and watched the walls with keen interest. Each of the animals he could recognize were venomous, by reason the ones he didn't recognize were probably venomous as well.

They walked on down in to the deeper parts of the earths crust until a black hole of a crack in the stone loomed before them. Men, if they could be called that, shuffled around it's entrance until they spotted the approaching trio. Instantly each one fell to their knees and mumbled praise and greetings to the Serpent Sannin and Kabuto.

There were no more animals here.

Orochimaru ignored them as he lead them in to the dead black halls. The path was winding, like a labyrinth, but neither Orochimaru or Kabuto paused or slowed. Sai followed, taking in every detail, every step, until the halls opened up in to a huge dark room. Lights flickered dimmly as eyes shown from the corners.

Sai took it all in then focused on the center of the far back wall, standing out from all the deep black, was a snow white marble throne decorated with golden snakes. Sprawled leisurely upon the ornate chair a dark haired youth glared them down. His eyes were a living blood red.

"You are late." His eyes rolled and landed on Sai.

"Ah, we had a little encounter at one of the river bridges." Orochimaru said all to sweetly. "As you can see we've brought back some thing from the adventure."

"I don't care what your excuse is, I expect you to keep your word with me." He stood, flowing like the liquid form of a cat, and descended the marble steps. Drawing his blade he walked towards them, his eyes never leaving Sai. Sai stood firm, keeping his eyes locked on his intended target.

Now was not the time to kill him.

"Forgive me, Sauske. Perhaps you will be interested to note who it was that we encountered, then _killed_."

"Who is this?" He asked, ignoring Orochimaru.

"I am Sai. . ."

"I did not speak to you." Sauske said dryly. He extended the blade and pressed it up under Sai's chin. "From Konoka. He looks weak."

"Perhaps." Orochimaru set his hand on Sai's back. "He was on Naruto's team."

Sauske's eyes turned away and he looked up coldly at his captor. "Naruto."

"Kabuto killed him." Orochimaru turned slightly with a broad grin towards the medic. "Show him what you have."

Kabuto nodded and pulled the chunk of spine he'd recovered from the ground next to naruto's body and held it out to the Uchiha. Sauske took it and rolled it over in one hand as he kept the blade to Sai's throat with the other.

Sai focused on the sturdy teen before him. Unlike Orichimaru'd thick dripping viscous Chakra, Sauske's was like a thousand barbed points, like quills of a porcupine. It was dark and sharp and hurt to feel. He pondered the meaning of it while Sauske continued to turn the sticky bone round and round in his hand.

"Dead." He said with out interest. "Naruto has no meaning to me." He handed the blood stained bone back. "This one has no meaning to me either." He pulled the blade back and turned away. "I will be in the tournament hall when you finally decide to train me."

Kabuto, once more holding the bone, sneered. "You know, Sauske, you and this ninja are alike, you have no humanity left with in you at all."

Sauske ignored him as he walked on, the quills of chakra waving around him and shivering with each step. As his is form faded in to the inky black shadows of the hall Sai could still feel the sharp edge of his energy over his senses, and the press of the blade at his throat.

Orochimaru turned to Sai. "I will show you where you will be staying until I can trust you."

Sai glanced back down the dark hall before nodding once. "As you wish." He would have to carefully asses his target. He'd never felt any thing so dangerous before, not even when feeling out the chakra of the tiled beast in Naruto.

* * *

Fish.

_Eat_ the fish.

More. Eat more.

_**Pain**_.

Ignore the pain! EAT! Gorge. Devour. More!

Pain, all over, ribs. . . SPINE. . . _ fish_. . .

'_Wait . . . I _**hate**_ Sushi._'

He choked.

Pain and the vile, _vile_, taste of bad sushi flooded him all at once. He vomited bones and guts and fins and he knew not what else and shuddered as his whole body burned in a way it had never done before. His ribs were fire and his back felt like it was being dissolved in boiling acid.

More guts and fish parts came up with a copious amount of very un-fish-like blood. It took several minutes to evacuate his stomach completely, and by the time he was done he felt waisted. A thin husk held together by skin only.

To weak to kneel where he was he stumbled back on all fours before collapsing down on to his left side. Gasping for air he took stock of where he was. There was a river roaring past and solid looking cliff walls towering across the river. He twisted and looked back, there were cliff there too. Laying his head down he closed his eyes and fought for another breath. The disgusting taste of bile fish would not leave his mouth.

He was dizzy and depleted. He felt like maybe he'd been in the river, held under so long he'd been starved of oxygen.

"_**NARUTO**_!"

The voice, shrill and panic filled, bounced around the cliffs like ricocheting shuriken. As if stabbing him each incarnation of an echo produced the same piercing sensation as the metal stars would have.

He pulled his hands up to his ears and covered them as he scanned the dark rock walls for the source of the voice.

"S. . . sa-ku. . . ra. . .?"

He opened his eyes slowly and more pain laced it's way through him.

There, sliding and running alternately, she was descending the far wall. She hit the black water and raced over it. The closer she came the more clearly he could see her face. She was crying. Again. She seemed to cry a lot these days.

He tried to get up, but a warning twinge in his hip told him he'd better lay still or it would snap. She was almost all the way to him when she stopped cold. She bobbed, just above the river on a thin sheet of chakra, and stared at him.

"Naruto. Please, _please_, tell me that's you."

Her voice was still grating, but it was softer and not nearly as screechy. He fought gravity once more and managed to perch on one elbow. "Wh-who else would. . ." He sucked in a breath, ". . . would I b-be?"

She stumbled for a second but recovered her self, which he thought was good because there was no way he'd be able to pull him self off the ground and go save her if she fell in the water. Taking small steps she made her way towards him. Now he could clearly see her face, not only was she wide eyed in fear and crying but she was also covered in blood. Worry spiked with in his aching chest and he looked her over for wounds.

"Hey. . ." He closed his eyes and winced as pain slammed in to him again. He crushed his free fist tight and rode the wave out until he could open his eyes once more. "You OK?"

For a moment she just stood there, gaping at him, with no color in her face to speak of. She was still on the water, but took a step forward on to the rock. Slowly, mutely, she nodded.

"Naruto. . . you. . ."

"Hey, I'm OK." He smiled for her, not wanting her to worry. He'd been pounded before, never quite to this extent, but he was still breathing, so that had to be a good sign.

Only the look on her face told him other wise. "Sakura?"

She took another step, then another. "You. . ." She sniffled and wiped tears from her eyes. "It's you. It's really you!"

He nodded. The motion caused the whole world to slosh around him. "Yeah, more or less, I think."

She was walking faster now, arms spreading. "N-Naruto!"

She was going to hug him. He wasn't sure that would feel good so he tried to move, but could not. "No! Wai. . ." Arms slammed around his body and he felt every thing burst in to non-literal flames. He bit back a scream of pain and swallowed hard the bile that threatened to rush up his throat.

"Sakura-chan, I can not _begin_ to describe the agony you are causing me right now!"

She let go and scooted back. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, sorrysorrysorry. . ." She burst in to tears again and reached for him, but did not touch him. She settled for half kneading the air in front of him. ". . .sorrysorrysorry. . ."

"Hey, HEY!" He forced him self to sit up, bones crackled like dry leaves, but he ignored the sound and sensation. Reaching out he grabbed her shaking shoulders. "Stop! Talk to me. What happened? Where are we?"

She buckled and buried her face in her hands while shaking her head. He looked her over slowly, she didn't seem hurt, so the blood must not have been hers. He shifted and crossed his legs before slumping forward and resting his elbows on his knees. The pain was fading as the Fox tended to his wounds.

Wounds.

He felt like he'd been hit by a mountain. Absentmindedly he reached up to rub his sore chest where he discovered the crispy ragged edges of cloth. Startled he looked down and gazed in shock at the hole in his jacket. His _FAVORITE_ jacket. "The hell?"

Reaching around he felt his back. His skin was lumpy and sore. His skin. There was a matching hole on the other side of his body. Pulling his hand upfront he realized, with a sort of cold fear, that his jacket wasn't the only thing 'off' about his cloths. His head band. . .?

He reached up and felt only the skin of his forehead.

"What in the world? Sakura!" He reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders. Shaking her he pulled her up to face him. "Sakura what happened to me? Where is my headband?"

She looked through shaking fingers. "Y-yamat-to took it."

"Why? You don't take some one's head band off unless they died and I didn't. . ." He snapped his jaw shut.

Hole clear through his jacket.

The river. The cliffs.

_**KABUTO!**_

A cold feeling sank through him and he let her go. "I'm not dead."

She shivered and sniffled. "You were."

"No, that's not possible. Dead people don't wake back up."

"You were." She was pulling her self together, but she didn't look well. She looked about as strung out and battle weary as any human being could. "The fox must have healed you."

He glanced down at the charded and blood stained fabric. He would have had to have been dead with a hole like that, but last time Kabuto had hit him there both he AND the fox had nearly died. It was only by Tsunade's hand that he'd survived. "So how did you save me?" He looked back up at Sakura. "How did you fix that?"

"It wasn't me, Naruto. It was the tailed beast. I saw it's chakra."

"Well, OK then." He said with a shrug. He wasn't going to question it. Not right now. If it hadn't been for that monster he wouldn't have been hit in the first place. He closed his eyes and tried to put it all out of his mind. In the void a new thought crept in. They were alone.

"Where is captain Yamato?"

She sniffled and wiped away another tear. "He went to get Sai. Sai followed Orochimaru alone."

Naruto let her go and slowly, painfully, stood. "I'm going too."

She jumped to her feet. "You can't! You are about to fall right back apart. Your internal organs. . ."

"Orochimaru is going to his hide out. I will follow him. I will find Sauske." He looked up at the cliffs and squared his shoulders. "We are almost out of time, Sakura. Orochimaru will kill him."

"You can't!" She grabbed him, gently, and clung. "You might die again! You might not come back this time! Please, I can't loose you! Not again, never again!" She burst in to tears once more. Gently he shoved her back.

"If I can't save Sauske, then what business do I have trying to be the Hokage? I keep my promises, or I die trying. That is my ninja way."

"You already died! So you don't have to . . ."

He covered her mouth, silencing her. "Sakura-chan."

She quieted down. A chill raced through the river canyon. "If I have to chose between death and saving Sauske, and being alive while he dies, I will chose my death over his every time."

She lowered her gaze and pulled his hand away. "What about me? What about Kakashi-sensei? You can't just abandon us!"

"He'd still have you. Besides who said I'd abandon you guys?" He asked. Standing as tall as his battered bones would let him he grinned. "I've already died, TWICE! I'm like, invincible. If I die again maybe I'll just, you know, come back to life again. I mean it's happened before so why not?"

She nodded, slowly, and wiped the last of her tears away. "But what if you don't come back?"

"Then I don't come back." He said flatly. "Like I said, I'd rather die trying to save Sauske then let that bastard Orochimaru take his body." He glowered. "Nothing can change my mind."

"But you aren't strong enough, your bones are so weak any little hit could shatter them. You need to get back to the village and go to the hospital."

"Sorry Sakura chan. I can't. We don't have the time."

"Then." She lowered her hands and clenched her fists. "Then I'm coming with you."

"OK." He said with a nod. Turning and looking up at the cliffs he glared. "Just promise me you won't try to save me. I couldn't stand the thought of loosing you either."

He felt her fingers lace in to his. "No promises, just the mission."

He hesitated, mulling it over for a moment, before nodding. "All right." A smile spread over his face. "Just the mission." Some where, not so very far away, Sauske was out there. "Team seven will be whole once more, believe it!"


	13. Best Laid Plans

Yes, this took a while, and yes, it needs some work grammar and spelling wise, but I have been offered the aid of a beta reader so if all things work out then my chapters will not look so incredibly crummy!

I had TERRABLE writer's block for weeks! But I think I'm back, I just burned out a little. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. If not then at the very least I hope you are entertained by it.

…..................................................................................................................................................................

**Next chapter 13**

Best Laid Plans

…...........................................................................................................................................................

"Ow."

The sides of the cliffs were slick and steep. Naruto clutched Sakura's shoulder and arm tightly as he took another painful step. Each time he placed weight on his right leg he could feel the bones grinding where they had been fractured.

"OK, OW!" He hissed through his teeth. "Ow."

"We are almost there." Sakura said gently. Her grip tightened around his waist and he sucked in his breath as his back popped and twinged. All of the resolve he'd felt at the bottom of the rock wall was slowly fading as he fought gravity to get to the top. If he couldn't climb one stupid wall then how was he supposed to go fight, and save, his team?

"Good." He wheezed when the pain subsided. While he felt pain with every step he'd come to realize he wasn't tired. Death, it seems, was it's own sort of deep sleep. He wondered, briefly, if he'd have to commit suicide every night for some peace. While the thought it's self struck him instantly as incredibly macabre and horrifying he couldn't get past the fact that for the first time scene Garra's revival he felt like he'd gotten real rest.

He glanced at Sakura who was still supporting him. Her dirt encrusted cheeks had clear clean paths running down them, evidence of the tears that had not long ago dried up. If she knew what he was thinking or worse, if he actually did it, and she found him in the morning if he didn't revive. . .

His stomach churned and he stumbled.

"Are you OK?" Worry sprung up in her features instantly.

"Perfect." He said with a forced grin. It was a lie, a bad lie, he was thinking of killing him self just to get some relief from the fox. . . DEATH. . . _temporary _death. . .

"Naruto, maybe we should head back to. . ."

"No." Not even the grave could save him from the madness. He forced him self to be steady and took another step. If he couldn't die then why not take the opportunities that presented them selves?

"You are an idiot." She said. Her words were not scolding, but soft. For some reason that hurt more than a rebuke could. "You can't fight like this and you know it."

Yes, he knew it. Still. . . "Now may be the only chance we have."

When she didn't say any thing he studied her face again. She was lost in thought, mulling his words over. Finally she looked over at him. "I already lost you once. I don't want to lose you a second time."

"We've been over this." He said quietly. "Sakura, don't you trust me? Don't you believe in me?"

After a moment's hesitation she nodded. "I do."

"Then stop trying to stop me. I'm going with or with out you."

Her grip tightened. They were near the top of the wall. "I'm just. . ." She let the sentence trail off.

"Just what?"

"I'm scared. And it's not just for you. I'm afraid for all of us. If you die. . . for real this time. . . what happens to team Seven, what happens to the village?"

"The people in the village will be fine, most of them probably still hate me any way." He knew a number of them would love to help him kill him self. It would almost be satisfying to let them if he could be sure he'd come back to life the next morning and meet them on the street. The looks on the faces. . . he'd have to get a camera.

"What about us?" She demanded. "What about Capitan Yamato and Sai?"

"I don't like Sai, and Capitan Yamato doesn't really seem to like me all that well." He said flatly.

She pulled him to a stop and leaned a little closer. "What about Kakashi Sensei?"

At the mention of his name he stilled. The silver haired ninja had already nearly died for him once and Naruto couldn't bring him self to think of it happening again. He swallowed hard and looked at his pink haired team mate. Suddenly he understood how she must be feeling.

"Sakura. . ."

"What about him?"

He closed his eyes against the memories of Kakashi's lifeless body sprawled on the hospital bed. "You have to believe in me." He said slowly. "I have to try to save Sauske. I have to try and bring him home."

She gave him a tug and he opened his eyes again. They were almost at the top.

"I believe in you."

His foot landed on the grass above and he pulled him self up all the way. She stepped up next to him and let him go. He held her, however, and pulled her back to him. "Sakura, you have no idea how much that means to me right now." He let her go and smiled a real smile. "You and Kakashi. . . you are my family. I don't want to hurt you, and I don't ever want to hurt him. Never, never gain. That's why this time I'm going to win."

…..........................................................................................................................................

The air was cool and clean and fresh. It smelled clean and soft and light as it flowed in to the dark hospital room. Kakashi was almost tempted to pull the mask down and breath with out the filtration of the dark cloth, but at the moment he just didn't want to move. He felt good, clear headed, and for the first time in days, like things were going to be OK.

He'd slept soundly for a hand full of hours, but a distant noise out in the halls had woken him. For a moment he'd thought he'd heard shouting voices, but when he strained his ears to hear more all had become quiet again. What ever it had been, he decided after a moment, it wasn't his job to look after the other bed bound people when he him self was a patient.

That had been some time ago. While he knew he ought to sleep he couldn't quite settle his mind enough to close his eyes. Both eyes were uncovered and open as the Sharengan was still inactive due to lack of chakra, and with his rare but welcome ability to see the third dimension he was studying the room keenly. It was a lot bigger than he'd thought it might be, now that he was really looking at it.

Besides that he couldn't stop thinking about what Jiraya had said to him. The perverted Sage had defended Tsunade, even after what she had done, and yet some how reassured that it would all work out for the best in the end. Kakashi couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so trusting in the older ninja then when they'd last spoken. He'd always trusted his own life to Jiraya, but now he realized he was trusting Naruto's life to him as well.

Which was a little absurd scene he'd never given it a thought while they had been gone over the last three years. Then again he had been a little caught up in some thing else.

". . .Rin. . ." He sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe he should sleep after all.

A knock at the door pulled him from the memories threatening to bubble up. He sat up and rubbed his gifted eye. It was starting to hurt for reasons he wouldn't acknowledge.

"It's open." He called.

The door opened quickly and a green clad, dark haired, haggard faced, ninja stepped in. It was Guy. He shut the door swiftly and leaned against it hard, while taking slow measured breaths. Kakashi's mind was instantly on alert and he sat up straight.

"Guy. . .?"

His whole body seemed to sway for a moment: he wouldn't look up. "Kakashi." There was no flourish of words or pride in his posture, rather he looked like he'd been beaten and tortured. The ruckus in the hall sprang back to Kakashi's mind and he felt a twinge of dread.

"What's wrong?"

"They are going to kill him." He hissed. Looking up through messy hair, the normally irrepressibly bouncy and brave Green Beast of Konoha, looked. . .

"Who?"

. . . terrified.

"Hiashi is going to kill Neji." He also looked borderline deranged and, with blood shot dark ringed eyes, he looked _terrifying_.

"What? That doesn't make any sense." Kakashi rubbed his face, not sure if he wanted to deal with his 'eternal rival' in the middle of the night after every thing he'd already dealt with. Guy must have snaped after mental stress of having a student nearly. . . almost. . .

He sighed. "Guy, when is the last time you've slept? I think you've finally lost it."

"He brought Inochi." Guy said thickly, ignoring the disbelief. "They went through his mind."

Kakashi lowered his hands and looked up at the tightly controlled face and saw the pain there. "What?"

"They want to know what happened to him."

Kakashi shifted, not wholly comfortable with the subject of what he believed the teen had done. Suddenly the thought that maybe Guy him self had driven the teen to the act popped in to his mind. Training under Guy probably had to be some sort of living hell for some one like a Hyuga. Kakashi chased the wicked thought from his mind as quickly as he'd let it form. No. . . no, that couldn't be it.

Pragmatically, _gently_, Kakashi asked. "Didn't he try to _kill him self_?" The last three words were hard to say, but he managed. It seemed like the right thing to ask, even though as Ninja one did not welcome the topics of pain. Grief could be it's own kind of poison.

"No!" Guy hissed. He ran a hand through his already messy black hair, further ruining the ever perfectly straight bowl cut. "No, it's **not** his fault. He didn't do this to him self. He's not like _them_. Not any more."

Kakashi frowned. _Them_. The whole of the Hyuga clan had never been well integrated with the rest of the village and most outsiders were greeted coldly, if at all. Kakashi felt a chill down his spine as he recalled the haunted white eyes and the dark proud looks he'd always been given when he'd walked past them. They thought the were better than others, they thought they were entitled to some thing. After the elimination of the Uchiha the problem had only gotten worse.

The thought of Neji, tied so tightly to the head of the household yet only a mere servant, had never sat well with Kakashi, and he knew it would have never set well with Guy. Guy held the firm belief that any one could do or be any thing they wanted. In retrospect Kakashi wondered why the two had been pared together. Maybe the higher ups hoped Guy could some how influence the clan, but for that he would have had to been given Hinata.

Kakashi wondered is she was like _them_.

"So what happened?" He asked with more than a little trepidation. Treachery and animosity was said to be rampant in the branch families. No matter who would have been assigned to Neji as his sensei the clan would have been his focus. His indoctrination.

Guy sighed, loudly, and shook his head. "I can't. . . I shouldn't be here, I don't want to get you involved. I just. . ." Tears were starting to fall, but not the boisterous tears of the Guy Kakashi knew. Pain laced through Kakashi's heart and mind as he realized Guy had leaned how to cry quietly to him self with out having an all out tantrum.

He was hurting on a level beyond what he'd ever felt before. Hurting because of the politics of a clan no one really trusted or liked. Kakashi was suddenly all to glad his biggest problem was a depressive/homicidal jinchuriki. It made things so much easier; you kill who ever tries to kill him, or you ignore the threat. That was it. For Guy it was just so much worse, so much harder to swallow. Forces on all sides were trying to undo all of the training Guy had ever given Neji. It was all culminating in to single moments of insanity and hatred and it was going to push Guy over the edge eventually if it wasn't stopped.

Maybe that's why Neji had. . . but Guy said he hadn't. Guy didn't look sane at the moment.

"They are going to kill him." The words were so sharp and so quiet, and spoken with such conviction that it physically stung to hear them.

Kakashi spoke his next sentence with out thought or hast, because he believed him. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need to hide him." He said in a hushed whisper, as if afraid some one was listening just beyond the door. "They'll be every where as soon as they realize he's gone and the only place I thought we could hide was your place."

"My apartment is to small for. . ."

"Not the apartment." This time he spoke so quietly, so darkly, that Kakashi wondered if he'd imagined it for a second, but no, he knew what Guy was asking. Other than the apartment Kakashi still owned the Hatake house. . . the house where his father's life had been. . . He shook his head, clearing the images from his mind.

He was never going to get past that, was he?

A long moment of silence filled the dark room as Kakashi mulled the request over. "Don't enter the Dojo, the rest of the house is yours to do with as you wish." He felt almost ill speaking of it, even with out speaking of it, but some thing had to be done.

"Thank you." He breathed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry to ask this of you. Kakashi I'm sorry. . . I'm so sorry. . ."

"Not your fault, Guy. Remember this was _not_ your fault."

He nodded slowly. "I'll keep that in mind." He was opening the door, still he wouldn't look up directly.

"I mean it, Guy. You can't carry that blame your self. If you do you might end up like. . ." he bit the sentence off there.

Guy finally looked up at him and smiled weakly. He let out a soft, humorless, laugh. "Don't worry, I will never be like you, my ever masked eternal rival." There was just a hint of the old Guy in the sentence, but it faded quickly. He sniffed and wiped his eyes as he tried to keep him self collected. "Besides, I know there's nothing I could have done to prevent this. I just wish. . ." He sighed. "When Naruto gets back I wish to talk to him."

Kakashi forced down a twinge of fear for his own student. "Why?" Of all the problems in the world Naruto did not need the Hyuga's pride or politics on his shoulders as well.

Guy waved the question off, knowing. "I just wanted to know if he'd talked to Neji on the last mission. I don't want to trouble him. . ."

Kakashi shoved the fear aside. "Of course. I'll let you know when he returns."

"Thank you." He said wearily as he opened and stepped through the door. He paused and looked back, but would still not look in to Kakashi's eyes. "I owe you." The door shut and Kakashi was once again alone. This time the peace he'd felt, like a calm pool of watter, was rippling with unease and little shivers of cold dread. He laid back and closed his eyes. One day he hoped that little pool would hold still for more than ten minutes at a time.

Knowing he'd never be able to sleep he reached out for one of his books. If he couldn't calm the pool then he'd go to the beach with it's warm white sand and scantily clad women. At least there he knew his mind was safe, even if it was just for a little while.

…......................................................................................................................................

Flashes of lighting and a crack of thunder erupted in the narrow halls of the dark stone underground. For a moment two bodies were illuminated as they flew at each other. Death and blood lust filled the cavern with the stench of sweat and and cries of rage and pain.

Sai sat, stone still, observing as Sauske and Orohimaru tore in to each other with out mercy or hesitation. The elder ninja struck again and again at the younger, each time reaching for a vital spot to kill. Sauske blocked with only a little trouble, and retaliated over and over with attempted killing blows of his own.

Sai closed his eyes and let their chakra weave in to his scenes. Orochimaru's was oozing around Sasuke's million razor points as they clashed. It was like living venom trying to coat the quills of a porcupine. Blow for blow the 'quills' cut through the oily 'venom', but as the fight raged on it was clear Sauske was growing tired. Orochimaru continued strongly, however, and eventually the pupil tripped up in front of the master. The Serpent sannin struck and the venom coted, then crushed the quills.

Sauske cried out in phenomenal pain, causing Sai's eyes to snap open. Orochimaru's hand was thrust in to Sauske's stomach nearly to the wrist. Orochimaru sneered and pulled his hand back roughly leaving his student to drop to the floor in agony.

"Once more you have proven how pathetic you really are."

Sai stood, noting that there had to be at least three vital organs damaged from the wound. He watched as blood pooled and wondered if he'd be spared the trouble of killing the Uchiha him self. Curling tight in to a ball Sauske grunted, but refused to make any other sound.

Then, in an instant, Sai saw his true self. Curled up and crying. Calling out to his parents. Pain, pain pain. The question 'why' over and over. Obsession and fear. So much fear.

Then the rage slammed all other things away.

Sai reached for his sketch book, but was again disappointed when it wasn't there. He would remember the images for latter, when he found it again.

Sauske grunted again and all of the points of chakra started to shift. Now they felt more like the shape of fire. Sai watched, intrigued, as black flame marks crawled up and over Sauske's face and body. It was the cursed seal, and it was closing his wound.

"Fascinating." Sai whispered. Sauske's head snapped up and he glared.

"Do I interest you?" The mark covered teen drew him self up from the ground as Orochimaru watched on, amused. "DO I LOOK INTERESSTING TO YOU!"

Rage flooded the chakra flames as grotesque wings erupted from the teen's back.

"You do." Sai replied simply.

Sauske growled and lunged for him, but a coil of white snakes snatched him before he could land a blow.

"Temper temper." Orochimaru said over sweetly. "Sauske, you have had enough for one day. Return to your room."

The teen shot his sensei a dark scowl, but did not resist or argue. After being set down by the snakes he stalked off, removing his bloody shirt and discarding it as he walked. Orochimaru chuckled.

"Well, Sai, what do you think of him?" He walked up, sneering and toying with his hair. "He is on your team, more or less, after all."

Sai considered the words for a moment. "Yes, I suppose that is true. I think his skills are superior to many from Konoha, but not superior to all."

"Do you wish to train with me?" Orochimaru's tongue flicked out and he licked his lips.

Sai mulled it over. It would be just as fascinating to fight with the Serpent sannin as it would be to observe him. He was tired, never the less, and needed to reassess his target. "Perhaps tomorrow after I have rested."

Orochimaru smiled. "Very well, I will show you to your room then."

…..............................................................................................................................................

Tsunade closed the last folder and stood. The night was well advanced now and dawn was only a scant few hours away. She'd pored over every report and file she could find relating to root, but had come up with only a hand full of conflicting half truths and rumors.

Rubbing her eyes she was about to turn out the lights when there was a rough knock on the door.

"Enter." She lowered her hands and frowned as a night worker opened the door timidly.

"Ah, you are still here." He said with a short nod. "Will you accept some one to see you?"

"Is there a problem?" She asked, silently pleading that there wasn't. She'd been dodging a full night's sleep for days now and wasn't keen on doing so again.

To her chagrin he nodded. "I am afraid so, Lady Hokage. Asuma Saratobi has a prisoner and he'd like you to see him personally."

"Prisoner?" Her mind flashed to the mission she sent the ninjas out on and fear traced her spine. "Is it Akastuki?"

"No, Ma'am. It's Umino Iruka."

The name floated in her mind for a minute, refusing to connect the quiet Paper Work Ninja with criminal status. She recalled Shizune telling her he'd left, and that he was sick. Her mind began to run through all of the symptoms that had been mentioned. Forgetfulness, headaches, disassociation with ones own self and finally disobedience. . . He'd been working two jobs with out a brake for nearly three months, plus he'd taken it upon him self to aid her in looking through the back logs. All of it pointed rather squarely at some sort of post-traumatic stress illness.

After word of Garra's death the Village had become on edge and nervous. Garra was a Jinchuriki, they weren't supposed to die. It was a poorly kept secret that Iruka had more or less adopted Naruto when the blond had still been in school. Maybe he'd finally cracked under the pressure. People under stress were capable of doing things they normally would ever do. Iruka could have become a danger in a stress altered state; many ninja before him had done so in the past.

"What are the charges?" She asked.

The Night Aid gave a small shrug. "All I know is that Asuma requested to see you immediately."

She took a breath and nodded, resigning her self to be awake for a while longer. "Send him in."

"Yes, Ma'am." He left, leaving the door half open. She stood, hearing nothing but the night sounds from the window, then there were foot steps. A hand clutched the knob and the door squeaked open on it's hinges. Asuma entered, roughly pulling Iruka with him.

The teacher bowed neatly, despite the grip on his arm. "For give our late intrusion." He gave a small smile, one that did not reach his eyes. "I'm sorry we have come so late. I hope we did not wake you."

Tsunade turned and glared at Asuma. "Why did you arrest him!"

The bearded ninja rocked back on his heals slowly and gave his own frown. "We were following the trail of two Akastuki members and when we were almost with in range to encounter them we met Umino-san. The trail stopped cold once we met him and now . . ."

Tsunade turned to the quiet Paper Work Ninja and cut Asuma off. "What were you doing? This mission was _NOT_ for some one with your low skill range. You could have been killed! Do you have any idea how valuable the information you know is? You have endangered the entire village!"

He looked up slowly and gave her a thin flat smile. "I'm sorry, I have no reason of value to give you for my actions, only an excuse. I was afraid for Naruto."

Asuma glowered. "As I was saying, when we reached him the trail stopped cold. There wasn't a TRACE of the enemy."

…..............................................................................................................................................

"You and Kakashi. . ." He was smiling, though she could see the pain still lacing it's way over his features. ". . .you are my family. I don't want to hurt you, and I don't ever want to hurt him. Never, never gain. That's why this time I'm going to win."

She pulled back and tried to hide her fear. She knew, KNEW, he needed to go back to the village for a full examination. While she'd supported him up the steep rock wall his back had rested against her arm and hand for most of the time. She could feel foreign objects embedded in his skin. He could heal from physical injuries, but what about infection? All of her medical training was screaming at her to rush him to the hospital.

She squelched it with one thought. He'd already been _dead_. Real dead. Blown in to bits dead. Normal rules for the universe and all who lived there in did NOT seem to apply to her blond team mate. He'd been dead dead, and then he'd come back from it like it had been a short nap.

Which was why her next sentence seemed logical, even tough it wasn't. "I know you'll win this time."

He smiled an almost easy, happy smile. "Then we should go."

"I'm just afraid of what the price will be for your victory." She added. Because he'd been _dead_.

The smile dropped. "Sakura chan."

"Just promise me some thing. . ."

"No promises."

"One thing! I want you to promise me one thing."

He sighed. "What?"

"I want you to promise that you'll do every thing you can to survive. Don't let any thing, or any one, get in your way. Even if it's me."

"No, I won't sacrifice you to save Sauske. We ALL live or I die trying to save ALL of you!"

"You can't make that diction for me." She folded her arms. "He's my team mate too! If I want to fight and die for him then I can and I will!"

"Now you sound like Tsunade! Who I still don't like after what she did!"

"She did what she had to do, Naruto. You don't understand, She was only acting in the best interest of the village."

….................................................................................................................................................

Iruka could see the Hokage staring at his body. HIS body! He felt the other one, _Fuka_, smile a horrible fake smile. It sickened him, sickened him worse than the sight of the bodies had. He slammed against the invisible wall that separated him from his fellow Ninja, but it would not brake.

Asuma glowered. "As I was saying, when we reached him the trail stopped cold. There wasn't a TRACE of the enemy."

"Can you explain that?" The Hokage demanded, looking at _him_.

He looked down, at his bound hands. "I did not encounter those men." He looked back up, giving a sickly sweet half smile. "All I wanted was to make sure Naruto was safe. Why would I engage the enemy?"

_'Don't LISTEN to him!'_

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "Your behavior over the last few days has been questionable. I believe you had nothing to do with the Akastuki, but I do not understand why you would risk the village against my word and your own common sense. Why did you leave the village?"

He hesitated for a moment. Iruka could feel him preparing an answer. "Lady Tsunade, is it true you had a little brother?" He looked up, directly in to her eyes, but never dropped the disgusting half smile.

She glared venomously and Iruka BEGGED her to see through him.. "I don't see what that my brother has to do with. . ."

"Did you love him?" He asked, quietly interrupting her.

"Yes. Of course I did." She nearly growled.

"Naruto. . ." Fuka paused and the face changed from that sickly sweet smile to some thing else, some thing less expressive. "He's just a _child_. They would have killed him."

Iruka sank back from the barrier and felt a roll of anger. They would have killed him.

He felt the face shift to a slight frown. "Naruto is like. . . like a son to me."

That was true.

Silence filled the room for several moments as all looked at the impostor with growing frowns of their own. They were listing to him, to Fuka, because he was blending the truth in with the lies. The truth Iruka had refused to speak of. REFUSED to make an issue because if he had and people knew they could use it against him,. . . against Naruto. Iruka screamed against the suffocating stillness, begged them to hear the lies through the truth, but he couldn't brake past the barrier. He was trapped.

"While it was. . ." Asuma shifted uncomfortably, ". . . understandable that you wanted to protect a child you think of as your own, Umino-san, what I don't get is what happened to the two Akatsuki members. The trail was so fresh you would have had to have seen them. It ended just under your trail."

"Just what would the outcome of that encounter have been had I met them along the way?" Fuka asked making him self sound even more innocent and hurt. "Surely you don't think I could have killed them."

"Asuma." Tsunade said as she sank in to her chair. "He's right. They must have hidden them selves from you and your team. I suggest you take Kiba and Akamaru with you and re-investigate the aria."

Asuma nodded slowly. "Of course, you are right."

"As for you Iruka."

Iruka slumped against the impenetrable wall of chakra. Fuka focused on her as if his whole world was to revolve around what she would say next.

"I want you to report to Shizune for a full exam first thing in the morning. The behavior you are exhibiting has all of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Until medically cleared you are relived of duty. Do you under stand?"

"I do, Hokage-Sama." Fuka bowed.

Iruka sank.

….....................................................................................................................................

Naruto winced at the pain her words. "What she did was inexcusable. She used her power to try and kill him." He recalled the moment he'd departed leaving the clone behind. He didn't trust what would happen then, he wasn't sure he trusted what would happen now.

He'd promised if any thing were to happen to Kakashi he'd come back 'Sauske or no Sauske'. But then Jiraya had shown up and Naruto had dropped the issue in his own mind. Still, what he'd seen, what the Hokage had been about to do. . . His stomach twisted in to knot. "You haven't seen what I have seen."

Sakura's eyes fell. "She had her reasons for not trusting him, Naruto."

Anger spiked with in his mind as the memories came flooding back. Memories from him self. . . and the clone.

_Looking down from the wall the clone watched as she lifted a syringe filled with clear blue liquid to the IV port. Anger surged, even if he was only a clone, and he was almost ready to release, but he wanted to hope. Hope that this wasn't real. _

_"Don't." Kakashi pleaded, but his voice was a shallow whisper. If she heard him or not she didn't respond._

_Just as the syringe was being pressed in to the port a strong hand grabbed her wrist. The clone turned fly looked over at wave after wave of white hair._

_"Jiraya." Tsunade said, eyes wide with shock._

He closed his eyes and took a calming breath. "What reason could she possibly have that would justify killing him?" When Sakura did not answer he opened his eyes and searched her face for clues. "Well? You are HER aid! You have to know something!"

Slowly she shrugged. "Maybe."

"Sakura." He growled. "What do you know?"

"I shouldn't talk about what I over heard. It's forbidden. . ."

He took her by the shoulders and growled again. The anger was mixing with a awful memory of seeing Kakashi lifeless on the bed. "Tell me."

"OK." She sucked in a breath and looked up at him. "Kakashi Sensei supposedly killed. . ."

Her sentence was cut off by a low, heavy, hiss from behind them. Turning slowly, they both looked over, and UP at the white serpent looming over them. It's tongue flicked out quickly, but it's movements were sluggish, at best.

Naruto backed away, looking the whole beast over, when his foot landed on some thing solid. He chanced a glance down and discovered he was stepping on Sai's book. He knelt slowly and scooped it up, not wanting to leave it where he'd trip over it if he had to make a move. Silently he stuffed it in his back pocket.

"It's moving so slow." He breathed. "Where did it COME from? Why didn't we detect it?"

"Orohimaru probably sent it to pick up your body."

With a hiss it slithered closer and looked down on them. The tongue flicked in and out.

"Naruto," She clenched her fist. "Stay here, let me handle this one."

"That thing is HUGE! You can't possibly. . ."

The look she gave him looked exactly like a look he'd seen Tsunade give Jiraya once before she'd pummeled him flat. "Sakura no!"

She started making hand signs. "I'm not the weakling you used to know, Naruto, you weren't the only one trained by a Sanin." Having said that she bounced off with her hands moving quickly. In an instant she was in the air with a fist full of chakra.

He took a step forward and tried to pull his own chakra together, but his body was still on the mend.

She reached the peak of her jump and started to descend, all the while the serpent seemed oblivious. _Seemed._ As she fell it suddenly opened it's mouth and to Naruto's horror swallowed her whole.

"SAKURA!"

He took another step forward but stopped when he realized the snake was starting to glow from the inside out. He backed away, this time his feat found the edge of the cliff. He glanced back and wondered if he ought to risk descending just a little ways when he heard the snake hiss again. Looking back at hit he saw a large stretch of it's body bloating. It started to writhe and vomit. . . then it exploded in a grotesque shower of sparks and gore.

As spray of blood and meat chunks rained down on him Naruto blinked. Sakura was again flying through the air, though this time it wasn't as controlled as it had been before. She landed hard in front of him and skidded on her side up to his feet.

"Sakura are you all. . ."

"Done." She announced as she hopped back up and wiped some slime from her face.

". . .right?"

"Fine." She wiped even more slime off her face.

"But. . .it ATE you!"

"It was trying to invenomate me." She rang her hair out. Thick sticky drops fell between his feet and hers. "But it missed. I don't think hit expected a fight. Plus he was cold so he was really slow. . ."

"Sakura." He said, cutting her off.

"What?"

"First of all that was the second most disgusting thing I've had to endure today, and second what happens when that thing doesn't show up with my body?"

"What was the first gross thing?" She asked as she wrung her shirt out.

"Sushi."

She turned and glanced at the huge carcase clearly distracted. The fatigue was gone and she looked as fresh as ever. He wondered what Tsunade had taught her to allow her to change so quickly. "They might send out more snakes, or worse."

"Yeah." He looked the huge body over. Orohimaru wasn't dumb, he'd know eventually that the snake wasn't going to show up. "He'll send some thing bigger. Some thing stronger and faster."

She looked at him with worry. "You don't think you can fight all the way there, do you?"

"I. . ." He struggled for a moment. He hadn't been ready to fight the snake, and he KNEW the trip there would be draining. He frowned and hung his head. "I never thought. . ."

"I have an idea." She said, ignoring him. "Can you transform in to the snake?"

He looked up at her. "I's' kind of big."

"Can you do it or not?" She asked.

"Yeah, probably. Why?"

She gave him a sly smile.

….....................................................................................................................................

Guy could carry a man twice his size on his back for a hundred miles while running at top speed. He'd done so to hasten his eternal rival's return to the village, though Kakashi did not weigh twice as much as he he'd still bean heavy. In fact Guy estimated Kakashi had weighed less than him at the time. As of resent he'd lost even more weight. He probably only weighed as much as Neji, who would have been easy to carry on his back all the way to the remote Hatake home. Guy would not carry his young charge on his back, however, mindful of the still painful wound to his precious youth's stomach. Now, as he slunk his way from shadow to shadow, he cradled the Hyuga branch member in his arms. He could not run like this, as his balance was to far off center, nor could he go far for long as his arms began to ache.

Lack of sleep, food, and proper hydration over the last week had sapped Guy of his vital regenerating energy. Still, as his arms ached, and his bones started to creek, he would not let his student down. He did stop to rest for a very short moment, kneeling in a dark ally, to catch his breath.

For the first time in his life Guy felt _old_. He took a deep breath and leaned his head back. In the almost dead silence, kneeling as he was on the pavement, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. In all of his years he'd never questioned another Leaf ninja, and he'd never left the city in such a manner. Wile he'd seen war and all of it's ravaging effects on the people who fought, he'd always maintained his mantra of 'youth' and 'determination'. He'd never allowed any one or any thing to slow him down or crush his ageless enthusiasm.

Neji shivered and swallowed a moan. He hadn't been fully conscious since Guy lifted him out of the bed back at the hospital. As Guy smoothed back damp hair from his fevered head he wondered if it would have been been better to have let Neji in the hospital's care. He wasn't a medical ninja, despite his self taught first aid, and didn't posses the skills needed to stop the infection. Back at the hospital he would have gotten these things.

But he wouldn't be _safe_. The thought of what Hiashi had done, what he was capable of doing, reafermed what Guy was doing was the right thing. He stood again and gained a new grip on his charge.

"We'll be safe soon."

Neji shifted and took a slow breath before reaching up and curling his fingers in Guy's green shirt. "Cold." He whispered with a slur.

"We'll be there soon." Guy soothed. "Soon."

…........................................................................................................................................................

Fuka exited the room with a pale smile. The hokage had belied him, clearing his largest and most dangerous obstacle. Had she not believed him she could have had him imprisoned or killed. The later would have been . . . unfortunate. . . but the former would have been only a smaller obstacle to over come.

He could almost feel Iruka in the back of his mind, withering, defeated. He'd been the first obstacle to over come, and it had been more or less easy to do so. The Paper Work Ninja was easy to ignore now that he'd lost the fight.

"Iruka." Some one called. He turned and looked. Two of the village elders were standing back a ways. Before them, beaconing him, was a man in bandages clutching a cane.

"I'm afraid you have the wrong name on the right body, Danzo-sama, My name is Fuka." He offered, stepping up to the trio. He did not bow.

"Fuka . . ." He took a slow breath. "Fitting."

"Iruka thought so."

"Is it stable?" The elder woman asked while glaring at him.

Fuka ignored her as he turned and looked out the large window. The city was alive with small dots of light and swaying trees. Below it all shadows walked oblivious to the dangers that lurked out side the walls. Every human being walking those streets were the targets of the Akastuki. He set his finger tips on the window's ledge and looked down to the street level. Some of the night owls were holding hands or star gazing. They were carefree and still alive.

"He doesn't need to be stable, he needs to be convincing." The elder man answered.

He wondered if the simple people below even knew what real power lurked just beyond the city lights. A small part of him wanted to laugh, but he wasn't sure why.

Fuka glanced up at Danzo's reflection as the man came up to stand next to him. "You are to come with me. I have some things to talk to you about."

Fuka opened his mouth, to ask a question about their next destination, when he caught sight of his own reflection. Iruka was against the glass, fists clenched, looking anguished.

_'Don't do this! Don't trust that man! Don't follow him!'_

The corner of Fuka's lips pulled up. "Where to?"

"This way."

The trio started to walk off in stiff silence. Fuka gave the reflection a quick last look before turning away from it and it's desperate warnings.

…........................................................................................................................................................

He was being followed and he knew it. Who ever was following him wasn't being especially careful to hide them selves, but they were being careful to hide their tracks.

Twice Guy had stopped to both rest and watch. The two figures following him had stopped as well to maintain their distance. He'd caught their sent while kneeling under one grand tree, and the smell had warmed his heart just a little.

Lee and Tenten were covering his escape and making sure no one else would follow them. He stopped again and took note of his surroundings. They were ten miles or better from the city and near an over grown path. Just a quarter mile more and they would reach the only place Guy felt was safe enough for his students.

Neji had long ago fallen deathly still and silent. His breathing was shallow and his body was burning up. There was no time for another rest, Guy knew he had to hurry.

He took to the path, knowing the two following would cover his trail, and made his way carefully but quickly through the last of the trees. A clearing opened up shortly after with one lone house standing in the center of it. Stepping carefully guy danced his way around a hand full of traps, leaving his trail open and obvious so his other two charges would, he hoped, do the same, until ha came to the door. It was a little work opening the door with a half grown teen in his arms, but he managed.

The moment he stepped in side the smell of dust and wood rot hit him. He he stood, breathing a little more heavily than he should have been breathing, and tried to remember where all of the bed rooms were. It had been a long time since he'd been in the old house, and at the moment his memory was thin with fatigue.

He spotted a couch covered by a dusty sheet and settled for that. Stepping over he balanced on one leg and tugged the sheet off with his exposed toes. Gingerly he laid Neji down. Now that his arms were free and he realized just how achy they had become. He ached all over in fact. With an exhausted sigh he sank to his knees next to the couch and leaned his head back on the arm rest.

He spotted the open door but was to tiered to care. The other two would be there soon, they could close it. His eyes slid shut and he felt his head dipping.

"Guy sensei?" His eyes snapped back open. Lee was pulling a blanket up around his shoulders. Two of the room lights were on and the door was closed tight. Tenten was in the background pulling sheets off of the furniture and folding them.

Guy's mind rolled sluggishly to try and remember what he'd been told by Kakashi. "Don't go in the Dojo." He whispered. Lee gave a short nod.

"It's sealed, we won't enter it." He tucked the blanket tight and sat back on his heals. "Tenten and I are taking turns on guard. We'll wake you in the morning."

"Good." Guy closed his eyes. He may be approaching the hardest battle he'd ever fought, but at least he knew he wasn't alone. "Thank you for coming."

"What else could we have done?"

Guy wanted to answer, but the world was fading again.

….............................................................................................................................................................

Fuka was brought to the balcony of a lavish apartment. He doubted it belonged to any of the trio as all three were on guard with in it's walls and on the balcony it's self. Rather, as he looked about the decorations and simple but extravagant furnishings, he suspected that this was where diplomats and VIPs stayed while they were visiting the city.

He stepped up to a buffet table and picked up a crystal glass that had gold leaf rims. It was all show and glitz and little else, he decided, comfort for people who were used to it. It didn't suit him, but he wasn't overly offended buy the obvious waist of good furnishings on people who were not from the city.

Danzo took a seat at a small round table by the fence at the edge of the balcony and beckoned him over.

Fuka took a seat and turned his attention to the man before him. "You have some thing you'd like to talk to me about?"

Danzo leaned back a little and gazed with his one dull eye. "Are you aware of the organization called Root?"

"I am." Fuka glanced up at the two elders who were leering at him from a distance. He turned back to Danzo and looked in to the one little glassy eye. "Root believes in an aggressive methods of control, preemptive strikes and defection prevention to maintain village peace and safety."

"That is more or less correct." Danzo said with a nod. "Or organization's goal is to eliminate all threats to the city as a whole. Our attention is on over all survival of our people, not the protection of individuals, whom ever they may be. In order to achieve this goal we must first displace any who would pose a threat to the organization."

"The Hokage."

Danzo nodded. "She is our primary target. We will remove her from power, but we will do so in a manner that will not arouse suspicion from the village it's self."

"Not every one will be fooled." Fuka glanced out over the city. "There are people out there who will suspect you first, and then there are those who will see through any lies you may weave to cover it up."

Danzo leaned forward. "That is why you were created." He said flatly. "I'm going to ask you do do things others would consider cruel, even criminal, in order to ensure this city remains safe." His eye narrowed. "I will ask you to kill certain people."

_Blood splattered and the scythe welding akastuki member shrieked in pain. Horror was in the eyes of the immortal._

Fuka smiled. "I'm comfortable with killing people."

"Good." Danzo turned and motioned to the elders. The old woman left while the man approached with a file. Danzo took it and handed it over. Fuka opened it and the smile slipped to disinterest.

A photo of one silver haired Copy Cat Ninja was paper clipped to the papers. "Kakashi Hataki." Fuka looked back up and studied the face of the man seated before him. "What do you want me to do?"

"Kill him. He's in the hospital and I know for a fact he nearly died a number of days ago. Make it look natural if you can. Hide your trail."

Fuka slid the folder in to Itruka's vest. "Is there any thing else you would like me to do?"

The woman returned with a figure following her.

"There is." Danzo said with a small smirk.

The woman stepped aside and Inoichi Yamanaka stepped out on to the balcony. He lifted up a folder and handed it to Danzo. Danzo's smile deepened and he flipped the folder open and scanned the contents. Inochi stood by, face blank, eyes hollow.

"Is he like me?" Fuka asked.

"He's a tool." Danzo replied as he turned the folder around and laid it down on the table. "You are a tool. Different tools for different jobs." He shoved the folder a little closer. "You are a weapon. He is a spy."

Fuka picked up the folder and looked at the picture. A smiling blond orange clad teen was grinning up at him. "Naruto?"

"He is our second biggest threat, next to the Hokage. Fortunately we have discovered some thing interesting about him and his. . . abilities."

….............................................................................................................................................................

Sakura climbed in to the gaping mouth of her now huge white slithering team mate. His clone, changed to look like her only dead, was already hanging from it's fangs. She settled in as comfortably as she could between the rows of sharp teeth and changed her own appearance.

Her hair turned blond and her body shifted to look as though a hole had been blown clean through it.

"Sakura." The clone said looking up at her.

"Yeah?"

"I just want you to know that while I think this is a really good idea I still feel weird about pretending to be dead you."

"Well you can't pretend to be dead you because you don't know what you looked like."

The clone sat up a little and looked her over. He blanched, making the dead Sakura face even more creepy. "Holy crap that's a big hole!"

She sighed and let her self dangle. "Yeah, it is."

The real Naruto started to move forward slowly, mimicking the movements of the dead snake. As he slithered forward the clone laid down as well.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"For what?"

"For getting my self killed." The clone looked sad, and dead, and creepy. She looked away.

"It's not your fault. I mean you told me you wanted us to kill you, but you didn't mean that, did you?"

He didn't answer her.

"Did you mean it?"

He sighed. "Some thing is w_rong_ with me, Sakura. I don't know what it is, but I hope when this mission is done we can find out and fix it."

…..........................................................................................................................................................

"This is very fascinating."

Iruka peered out at the report Fuka was holding in his hands with horror. He couldn't read the text, but he could tell what ever was in the report had changed the tactics of Root. They were becoming bold now.

"Do you want me to kill the Jinchuriki?" Fuka asked. "The whole village knows about the bond between Naruto and Iruka. I don't think. . ." Iruka waited in dread for the sentence to finish. ". . . Killing Uzameki would be counter productive to both our goals."

A wave of discontent flooded Iruka, it was stronger than his own fear.

"I agree." Danzo replied. "If he died then we would be cut off from his abilities. No I want him alive. What I want from you, because you are supposedly bonded with him, is to ensure he does not get in our way before we can shape him as a tool as well."

"What will I get from these missions?" Fuka asked. "This must be an S-ranked mission."

"You will continue to exist." Danzo replied dryly. He looked up at Inoichi Yamanaka. "I have insurance against you getting out of hand. I can make sure no trace of your existence is ever discovered."

Iruka shrank back from the blond mind reader while Fuka merely smirked.

"Kill Kakashi, then make sure Naruto is distracted while we make our next move." Danzo stood. "I want the Copy Cat Ninja dead by the time Naruto returns from his mission."

"Assuming he'd return." The elder woman spat. "That Tsunade would send him out at a time like this, with the Akastuki running about. . ."

Fuka sculpted his face in to a look of innocence. "Did you know they seem to have vanished?" He closed the folder and stuffed it in to his vest as the four people stared down at him. "Perhaps they have encountered some trouble."

Danzo studied him darkly.

Fuka stood and gave a short bow before looking up with a small grin. "If you will excuse me, gentlemen, lady, I have some preparation to do."

Iruka slid down and buried his face in his hands as he felt his body walking away. There was nothing he could do, nothing. Except watch as _his_ child's world crumbled by the work of his own hands.

…............................................................................................................................................................

Yamato steadied him self against a tree as a wave of nausea washed over him. He didn't know if it was from the venom Orochimaru had injected or not, but it made travel through the trees impossible. He was hopeful that once he returned to camp Sakura would be able to raw out the poison, then, if she was stable enough, they could both go back and try to locate Orohimaru's hide out.

He shoved off the tree and stumbled forward. He could hear the river, but he could not smell smoke. Maybe she wasn't ready for battle yet. She probably could still heal him, however, despite her grief. Healing one person some times had a calming effect on another.

Some thing white moved through the green.

He stumbled a couple more steps and braced him self against another tree. Squinting through the dense leaves and darkness he saw a huge serpent making it's way slowly towards him. His heart stilled for a moment as he realized it was coming from the camp. He hid him self and waited, watching.

It was moving slowly, but surely. As it came in to view he could see, to his horror, two bodies hanging limp from it's mouth. One was Naruto, the other was Sakura.

He'd lost them both. His stomach flopped and he knew he'd be sick. Bounding back he hid him self before his stomach gave in.

As he knelt in the damp grass listening to the slow crunching of foliage while the snake passed by his mind drifted back in time to when he and Kakashi had both been ANBU. Kakashi had sworn he'd protect his team, sworn no one would ever die on his watch.

It finally dawned on Yamato that the venom wasn't what was making him ill.

…..................................................................................................................................................


	14. Fear and Hate

_I want to thank every one so far who has commented on this story, you have no idea how much you have kept me going! A HUGE part of me, for a while, was struggling to keep going, because I felt this was a rambling, meandering mess. But your comments got me over my Emo wallowing anxiety. I just HOPE you all enjoy this next chapter, I spent a lot of time on it to make sure it stood up to your praise. Still, if you see any thing wrong with it, let me know!_

* * *

**Fear and Hate**

…...

Slivers of white and gray dissolved in to each other and danced in the inky black shadows. Naruto moved slowly through the rocky entrance, mindful of the person in his mouth, protecting Sakura from _them_. Oricimaru's minions leered at him from the dark, hissing and growling, like frightened animals. There eyes shimmered and glittered like a thousand icy stars. He ignored them all and refocused on the narrow tunnel.

Anger and rage were starting to bubble up again from deep with in. The cycle of despair, hate and insanity was starting over. Sakura shifted and he felt the urge to bite down roll through him. Hunger was starting to gnaw at him once more. It was a deep, insatiable, hunger for _blood_.

He took a slow breath and shifted her with his forked tongue.

She tasted good.

He winced and crushed the feelings down, willing him self to think past the whispers in the back of his mind. They were near Sauske, so near he could almost smell him. A quiver of fear and excitement rolled through him as he thought of his former team mate. Sasuke had nearly killed him in the last encounter, and Kabito HAD killed him. . . He wondered if he could win this time.

An old saying flowed through his mind, 'three strikes and you are out'. He'd never been quite sure what it had meant until this very moment. If he was struck down this time there was a real possibility he wouldn't be able to get back up, even if the fox did heal him.

He could feel the rage _gnawing_ at his stomach.

He'd promised he would return to Kakashi, Sauske or no Sauske, and a small part of him wondered if he should have taken Sakura's advice back at the bridge. But now, as he came to the end of the long tunnel, he knew it was to late to turn back.

With narrow wild looking eyes focused on him from the dark he lowered Sakura and his clone to the stone floor and lowered his head down next to them. Sakura made an impressive looking replica of his formerly dead body. Every detail was in place, from the gaping chard hole, to the vacant hollow eyes.

More fear rumbled through him. As he stared down at her she stared back up with a lifeless blank look. He turned his head away, unwilling to face what he'd become. Unwilling to look at the dead form of a Jinchuriki.

He'd seen the same blank look in Garra's eyes. He'd felt the cold of death as his chakra mingled with Chiyo's as they worked feverishly to revive him. He'd felt the hollow screams of despair and pain as life started to return. And then he'd felt the _panic_. Some where between the moments when Garra was dead and alive Naruto had felt the onslaught of terror. True, unbridled, terror. Horror upon horror flooded his mind as Garra's soul and memories flooded him in an instant. Naruto had to press through, past the need to flee, past the urge to retaliate blow for unjust blow, past the horrifying sound of a child keening in grief, to reach him.

Even after he'd made it through the panic was still there, cutting through the hate he'd always felt before. Acid and knives were gnawing at the back of his mind even as he laughed when Garra opened his eyes.

_Fear _and_ Hate_.

Yes, he was nearly indestructible, but he wasn't immortal. The Akastuki were out there waiting for him, so even if he survived the fight shortly approaching he'd still have to face them. He'd have to look in to the eyes of the men who were slowly one by one capturing and killing Jinchiriki's like him self.

Fear and Hate, beyond what a human could feel.

"Well, what do we have here?" A familiar smooth voice called out. It was followed by a low chuckle.

Naruto lifted his head and flicked his tongue out at the dark haired Serpent Sanin who would kill Sauske and take his body. He'd take the body, hollow it out, and use it. Just like a tailed beast.

Fear and Hate, beyond what a human could feel, beyond what he could control.

…...

Dawn was braking as Fuka held the papers stiffly in his hands. He scanned the words that were written in neat, tight, letters with growing interest. Inoichi Yamanaka's hand writing was as disciplined as his ability to filter through the thoughts, feelings, and memories of another human being. The memories recorded now, stripped from the mind of Hyuga Neji, illustrated an intriguing yet dangerous new scenario for Naruto Uzumaki. One that would eventually lead him down a path no mere human could survive.

A flat, dry, grimace spread over Fuka's features as he reread the words that were underlined. The report told that during his encounter with Garra of the Sand some thing new had been _added_ to the boy's body while aiding in the revival of the other Jinchuriki.

Some thing _Evil_.

The report also mentioned Naruto was more than Mere Human.

He absorbed the information slowly and let it mingle with his given mission to kill Naruto's Sensei, Hatake Kakashi. Clearly, in light of what the Hyuga boy had discovered, and what Naruto really was, The Copy Cat ninja would be a volatile or even catalytic element to the equation. With is sharingan fully awakened he was the only thing standing in the way of fully harnessing Naruto's true powers.

Fuka wanted very much to see those powers harnessed. He smiled levelly as he closed the folder. Naruto's picture fell to the table, blown out by the shutting papers.

Naruto so very dearly loved his current sensei, however, so taking the silver haired obstacle out would be an exercise in stealth. He couldn't let Naruto suspect it was the hands of his beloved Iruka that had taken Kakashi's life, that would undoubtedly unhinge the blond just enough to let him loose control over what he now possessed. Because of that Fuka couldn't risk failing this mission.

It was genius on Danzo's part to chose Naruto's 'father' to do the task. Naruto would be hard pressed to believe the spineless Iruka could kill in cold blood. It was just for that reason 'Iruka' had to do it.

Either way, if Naruto discovered the truth or not, he would be devastated.

Fuka picked up the picture and traced the images outline. The flat grimace shifted in to a dry sad smile. "It really does break my heart."

…...

Kakashi stared at the cup set before him. Sunlight was streaming in now and it danced in the thick purple of the grape juice, warming it enough to make it's pungent sent fill the air. He took a short breath and found that the smell was strong enough to churn his stomach.

"Well?"

Kakashi looked up and tried to smile. Jiraya had returned promptly to fulfill his promise to test him to see if he was ready to leave the hospital by feeding him. He didn't know if Tsunade knew, but he found he really didn't care at this point.

"Ah. . . I'll drink it."

Jiraya stared at him with mild bemusement. "Today?"

Kakashi turned back to the cup and reached for it. He'd expected they would start with water and then maybe juice by lunch, then nearing supper he'd try some rice. But Jiraya had cut to the chase early with the most repugnant liquid he could find. His fingers touched the lid and he took a deep breath. The smell hit him again and his stomach lurched.

"All of it now." Jiraya was smiling. "One shot, like a man."

Kakashi gulped and reached up fingering the edge of his mask. "Uh. . . Now?"

The Toad Sage stepped closer and leaned in. "Come on, just do it! Don't be such a girl." A huge leering grin spread over his old, wrinkled, face.

Kakashi tried not to glare at the childish taunt. It sounded like some thing one would say to another after several shots from a dirty sake bottle. He frowned as he looked down at the liquid in his hand. He knew he could drink it, and keep it down, he was a ninja, after all. He'd had to survive starvation torture only to escape and gorge on the most horrible trash he could find during the war. He would not be over come by a _mere drop_ of grape juice.

Even if that drop was a whole cup full.

"Mask down, bottoms up, down the hatch." Jiraya said in a teasing growl. "Or do you want to start with some thing from the faucet first?"

Kakashi just barely managed not to glare at this taunt. "Fine." He tore the mask down and tossed the whole cup full down his throat in one swig.

And then choked. An entire array of hacks, wheezes, coughs, and one angry sneeze, sent drops of grape juice all over the clean white linen. It looked as though he was dyeing and coughing up blood that was inexplicably purple.

Jiraya let out a hearty laugh and slapped him on the back. "You never could hold it."

"It's just grape juice!" He spat between coughs. "Not your cheep booze!"

Jiraya laughed again and Kakashi felt him set a warm hand on his back. It soothed his breathing a bit to have the reassuring touch, though he'd not admit to it now. "How is your stomach?"

Kakashi suppressed another cough and gaged how his stomach was handling the new addition. The lurching and nausea had stopped and an almost curious gurgle squeaked out from his decidedly skinny mid-section. Then there was a low, snarling, growl. He slid the mask back up and realized that he was, in fact, _starving_.

"It's _empty_!" He declared honestly. "What's on the menu for the second course?" A gastric rumble accompanied the question.

Jiraya laughed again, gave him another pat, and backed away. "Well, how about some rice and. . ."

"Yes." Kakashi half shouted, cutting him off. "What ever it is, yes!"

The Toad Sage grinned. "OK, I'll be right back!" In a moment he was gone and Kakashi was alone with him self, and his now ferociously snarling stomach.

It was almost painful to feel how empty it had become since his last meal. He hadn't noticed it before, but now he caught sigh of his diminished body size. The bones were all still solidly there, but they had less over them now. He could see his ribs and he could feel the points of his pelvis with out any added pressure from his finger tips. He shuddered to think of how he actually looked. Aside from being down right scrawny he must have looked like a greasy mess. He could see his hair hanging in ratty clumps in front of his eyes. He'd never been one to take all that good of care of his hair, but he did like it to be clean, if nothing else. Feeling more like a bedraggled orphan than a well trained Leaf Ninja he tried to distract him self.

Kakashi crunched the cup and tossed it in to the waist basket across the room, hoping his skills were still intact. The cup sailed in neatly with out touching the rim. He felt just a little better knowing he still had perfect aim, even if there was less power behind the throw now.

…...

Asuma eyed the scruffy looking youth standing before him. Kiba, and his ever present familiar Akamaru, were standing at attention in a sloppy, laid back, manner. Kurenai's other two students were attentive, well mannered, and polite while being addressed, but the Inuzuka boy had a wild looking streak in his eyes. He grinned and showed extra large fangs, further giving him a less than civilized appearance.

"You wanted to speak with us, Asuma Sensei?" He asked. Then he scratched at the inside of his ear.

"Yes, with you mostly." Asuma said as he stole a glance at his own three students. They were in even less admirable positions of attentiveness, but then again they were more comfortable with him. Kurenai's student's were being addressed by a Sensei not their own, over all they were being the picture perfect young ninja they needed to be.

They had been so the last time he'd gathered them too, before he'd surprised his love with the flowers the day before. Over all they were good kids, proof that Kurenai would make a wonderful mother.

He pulled his thoughts from that topic and gave her students his full attention. "Kiba, I wish for you to accompany my team on a mission. We need you to try and track the Akastuki who have infiltrated the aria."

His wolfish grin light up his face. "Really? You need me?"

"We do." Shikamaru said with a firm nod. "The trail goes cold near a lake, and there is evidence one of our own ninja may have some thing to do with it."

"What da'ya mean?" Kiba asked as he tilted his head to the side. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"No." Asuma replied. "There are three ways the trail could have ended as it seems to. One is that the Akastuki have hidden them selves beyond what my team can track and are now undetectable to us. Two, they have back tracked and retraced their own steps to come from a different rout."

"Both sound like a bad scenario." Shino said slowly.

"Both are." Asuma said with a rough nod.

"That's only two." Hinata fidgeted. "You said there are three way the trail could have ended."

"The third way is possibly most unlikely, but also most dangerous." Shikamaru said. "One of our own man could have killed the terrorists."

"Wouldn't that be a good thing?" Kiba asked.

Asuma shook his head. "Not in this instance."

Kiba frowned. "Who is the man from our village that supposedly did it?"

"Id like you to tell us when you get there." Asuma replied.

"You don't know?" Hinata asked, looking worried.

"We know." Ino spoke up. "But we want it confirmed by Kiba with out telling him, as a double blind test."

"So we know we aren't wrong." Choji added.

"Right." Shikamaru Said flatly. "Kiba, what we want from you is to confirm a suspicion I have abut one of the shinobi of our village."

"I'll do my best." Kiba patted his companion. "Right, Akamaru?"

Akamaru wagged his tail and barked.

Shino stepped forward and stood stiffly next to his houndish team mate. "Hinata and I are going to do _that thing_."

Kiba sobered up and nodded. "I will go with Asuma then."

"What are you off to do?" Choji asked.

Hinnata's look darkened and she dropped her head.

"It's a privet matter." Shino answered.

"Is this about Neji?" Choji asked, his own face taking on a sad look. Shikamaruo mirrored it.

Kiba pulled Akamaru between Asuma's team and Hinata. "Hey, Shino said it's privet." While his tone was light his eyes grew dark. Akamaru snorted from under him.

"I see." Asuma cleared his throat and stuffed his hands in to his vest pockets.. "Shino, will there be any way we can contact the two of you in case we need back up?"

The tall youth nodded. Two insects floated up and landed on Kiba's shoulder. "Should you need me, send one. If you need us both, send two."

"Will do." Kiba said with a toothy smile. Akamaru barked and wagged his tail.

Shikamaru shoved off the wall he'd been leaning against. "Good luck."

Shino turned to walk away. "Good luck to you as well."

After that all seven ninja vanished.

…...

_Guy tried to fight, but his limbs were limp. The two Hyuga guards started to drag him out. More anger rushed him and he managed to growl, chasing the numb from his mouth. "If you so much as touch Neji I'll. . ."_

_"You have no power against even a single Hyuga."_

Might Guy whimpered in his restless sleep. Lines of age and pain were drawing deep furrows in his face.

_"If you think you can ever touch my student again then you will be in for a sorry surprise! I, Might Guy, the Green Beast of Konoha, will never let you near Neji again!" _

_Hiashi looked unconvinced. "We shall see." He said simply._

With a strangled gasp Guy shot up straight and clutched the blankets that were wrapped around him. Fear snatched the breath from his lungs and made his limbs shake, but the sent of wood rot and dust chased the terror of the night from his mind and body. He took a deep breath and looked around, calming him self. He was still more or less propped up against the arm rest of the couch he'd slumped down on the night before. He was relived to realize that they were no longer in the village. He sighed and leaned back wearily and closed his eyes. From behind him he could hear Neji's breath coming in short labored gasps.

Though it was a struggle on his stiff body Guy sat back up and turned to face his student. The dark haired youth was ashen. A thin veil of sweat was covering his tightly contorted face. Reaching up Guy felt his precious charge's cheek. It was dangerously hot. The fear returned to Guy's mind and would not be chased away a second time.

Along with the fear Guy felt a stab of pain. Back in the village Neji had been on antibiotics to treat the infection that had developed in his wound. Now with out that life saving resource he was loosing his fight over the infection.

Guy stood and wrung his hands together, fearful and perplexed, feeling the events wear his youthful nature down. Neji was not safe back in Konoha, but he was not safe here, either. It was a problem some one _old and wise_ could have avoided. Guy was sure of it.

"What have I done?"

The front door opened with a rusty squeal. Turning to look Guy saw Lee enter and smile gently. "Your awake, Guy Sensei."

Guy tried to smile in return, but could not manage. "Lee. . . I. . ." He turned back to Neji. "I don't know if he'll make it." He wanted to sink down right there and cry, but he knew he'd never get back up if he did that. Lee and TenTen still needed him, after all.

"Oi, I wouldn't be so sure of that." Lee said with a smile in his voice. Guy turned to face his ever optimistic youthful student and braced him self to do the unthinkable. He had to prepare Lee and TenTen for Neji's inevitable death, how ever it came.

Because his youth couldn't save him any more.

But , just as the horrible words were forming on his tongue, his eyes caught the sight of some one else in the door way. His words caught in his throat and refused to go further. Lee stepped away from the door and opened it wider. Light flooded in and soaked the whole room, making the dust shimmer and sparkle like magic. A figure, strong yet gentle, stepped in past the thresh hold, and bowed. Hollow gray eyes, shaded by rivers of dark black, hair looked up at him as the figure straightened back up. Hinata Hyuga stood before him, hands softly clasped, chackra pulsing strongly.

"Princess." Guy whispered. He blinked, wondering if this was an elaborate illusion desinged by the head Hyuga to force him to let down his guard. He glanced past her to see if her father was there, but his eyes caught only Shino and Ten Ten.

"May I enter?" She asked, braking his fearful thoughts. "I. . . I wish to speak with Neji." Tears started to form in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

"I don't know if he'll be able to hear you now." Guy replied with a tremor in his voice. He stepped away from the make shift bed and looked down sadly. "I think he's dieing."

Hinata, not waiting for permission, hurried to Neji's side and fell to her knees next to him. Carefully she reached out and took his hand.

"Neji."

He shifted and opened his eyes. "Hinata." Guy's heart swleed with the joy at seeing a little life re enter his student's face, but it pained him to see the pain his student was in.

"Forgive me, I love you, I never wanted to hurt you. Please, forgive me!" The princess half whispered, half choked the words out. Guy wanted to cry out right at the honesty poring from her soul.

"For what?" Neji licked his dry lips and closed his eyes. Clearly, this was all a struggle for him. "I never blamed you."

"But I. . ."

"Don't." He took a harsh breath and opened his eyes again. "Do you remember what I told you?"

She shook her head 'no'. As she listened Guy leaned a little closer, wondering and needing to know what could have lead to this agonizing situation.

"Naruto has grate power Hinata. He has the power to destroy the whole world. If you love him, you'll stay out of his way." The hurt in his words was like a grate crushing wight on Guy's soul. Such burdens for his Youthful Student! He had to bite his lip to keep him self from interrupting.

"Naruto would never hurt any one." Hinata said sullenly. Guy nodded, this was true.

"But the power of the tailed beasts with in him will." Neji closed his eyes again and Guy realized this too was true. "Tell me, Hinata, what did I see when we returned from Sand?"

She dipped her head and closed her eyes with such deep sorrow Guy could _feel_ it.

"Tell me." Neji demanded in a horse whisper.

…...

Naruto hissed and lifted his serpentine head. Orochimaru, hands on his hips, scowled.

For a moment neither moved. Then, to fast for Naruto to track, the Sanin was in the air behind him, blade drawn, ready for the strike. Naruto twisted, let the hinge go, and dodged the long sword by inches.

Chackra erupted from his form and his clone evaporated. Sakura, leaping out of the way, returned to her own form.

"NARUTO NO!"

Orochimaru landed and bounced back in the air. The dark haired ninja twisted around and re-aimed his blade.

"Persistent brat, aren't you?"

Naruto snarled. He was beyond words now, beyond trying to hold back the rage. He leaped, straight for the on coming sanin, and took the blade straight to the gut. The dark eyes widened in shock as they both tumbled back.

"It IS you!"

The pain from the embedded blade was laughable next to what he'd just recovered from. He reached out and slapped the sanin away with one chackra covered, clawed, hand. The older ninja slammed in to the rock wall. Naruto landed in a crouch and readied to leap again, but suddenly Sakura was in front of him, arms out.

"STOP!" She took a step towards him. "You'll loose control completely!"

"**OUT OF MY WAY **_**HUMAN**_!" He reached out and tossed her to the side like rag doll. His prize, his _meat_, was before him.

Orichimaru peeled him self from the rocks and staggered for a moment before looking up. Blood was drooling from a wound on his temple.

Naruto charged. Orochimaru tried to leap away but stumbled, dizzy. The sent of blood filled the air and Naruto sneered.

"_**DIE!**_"

Suddenly a boot clad foot slammed in to Naruto's head and sent him sprawling across the floor. Kabuto landed neatly between him and his prey.

…...

Yamato stumbled up to the gates and quickly placed his hand on the chackra reader to disarm the barrier. Izumo and Kotetsu were at his side in an instant, supporting him.

"Are you all right Captain?" Kotetsu asked, wide eyed.

He wanted to drop right there and let them take him in. His body was on fire while his mind was frozen on the image of the two dead teens. "I need to get to the Hokage, _**now**_." He wheezed.

"But sir. . ."

"The village is in grave danger." He closed his eyes against the roll of nausea and braced him self against a sudden swell of pressure flowing thorugh his chest. He'd run the whole night and run all morning, pushing his body to it's very limits. Now he hoped he could make it the last few blocks to the Hokage tower before he was finaly over come.

The after that to Kakashi's side. He wasn't sure how he would brake the news, but he knew he had to be the one who did it. Then he'd face what ever came after, what ever it would be. Death would be welcome now after what had happened.

"We'll take you there." Izumo offered quickly.

"No, keep vigilant. The village is in danger." He waved them off and stood as steadily as he could manage. "I've made it this far, I'll make it to the tower."

The let him go and he took a step. His whole body shivered, but he had to keep going. The wight of Naruto's head band in his pocket was enormous. He feeling of the crystal in his other pocket was like a dagger stabbing his leg. He focused on the wight and pain to keep him from being over whelmed by the nausea and pressure.

He felt like he was already dead, but his body hadn't been informed yet.

Villagers gawked as he staggered down the main street towards the heart of the village. It was amazing how tall the buildings looked now. He should have been on the rooves, not the street, but they were to high for him to reach. The people were looking at him in horror. The poison could have been causing him to imagine it, but they looked like they were condemning him.

Maybe it was the guilt.

ANBU don't feel guilt.

He staggered and dropped to one knee. The tower was just to far away. He wasn't going to make it.

Suddenly Izumo was kneeling beside him, taking one arm over his shoulder. "We've got the gate covered, let us help you."

Yamato wanted to say 'I don't deserve help', but he had to get to the tower to warn Tsunade. "OK." He had to get to kakashi.

He had to have the man's forgiveness.

Kotetsu knelt at his other side. Together the guards lifted him and bound to the roof tops. In moments, it seemed, they were not only at the tower, but inside, knocking on the Hokage's door.

Shizune opened it with a smile. "Can I help you?"

"Where is the Hokage?" Izumo demanded briskly.

Her smile dropped as she took in the sight of them. Frowning she stepped out of the way. "She's here, come in."

Yamato managed to enter under his own power and stand before the woman. The two gate guards hovered behind him, ready to catch him should he fall. He wanted them to let him fall. Maybe the ground would swallow him up like the grave.

"Lady Hokage." He managed.

Her eyes widened in alarm. "What in the. . .? What _happened_? Where is the _rest_ of your team?"

Yamato took a slow breath, trying to remember the words he'd practiced in his mind on the way back to the village. But his mind was blank. All he could see, all he could think of, was Naruto's hollow dead eyes looking up at him as he'd taken the head band and necklace.

He realized then that those items would speak loudly enough for them selves. Mechanically he reached back and pulled the gold chain with the liquid blue gem from his pocket. As he let it dangle between them Tsunade gasped and dropped back in to her chair.

"No." She shook her head. "No, not him."

"I'm sorry." It was hard to breath. "Kabuto. . ."

Her eyes locked on his.

". . . was the spy." Yamato stepped forward and held out the necklace. She took it and stood. Trembling she stepped up to the window and looked out over the village. Yamato watched as she put the necklace on.

"How?"

"He used a chakra burst to distroy his heart.

She dipped her head and for a long moment silence filled the room like a suffocating fog. When she looked up and back at him her eyes filled with pain.

"That's exactly what he did last time." She wrapped her arms around her self. "What about Sakura?"

"I'm sorry."

She closed her eyes again and this time Shizune stepped up to set her hand on the Hokage's back.

Yamato felt the room start to spin around him. "Orichimaru is planning an attack."

"He was there too?" Tsunade asked, her voice was rough and husky.

"He poisoned me." He replied flatly. "He told me you had the cure and gave me a time stamp of three days to live, that was yesterday."

She looked up at him, blankly. "Shizune. . ."

"I'll get the poison kit." Her aid said and hurried out of the room. She ushered the gate guards out as she went.

Alone with the Hokage Yamato shifted on his feat. Every moment of traing for ANBU was lost now to the numb he felt. Washed away by the images of the Jinchiriki dead at his feet. "Lady Hokage?"

She stared at him.

"Will you allow me to tell Kakashi?"

"Why?" She asked, blinking, dazed.

"Because I deserve to face him for what I've failed to do."

"You may tell him." She said coolly.

…...

Kiba sniffed and sniffed and sniffed until his whole nose hurt. He could smell many people here. Mostly the team he was with, but he could also smell people he didn't know. One smelled like a man who had touched snakes. The sent was very fresh, but laid hastily and in the direction towards the village. It was a far off sent too, as if it had come near here, but not right here.

He ignored it.

Sniffing again he caught a whiff of the academy teacher Iruka Umino. But his sent was strange and inconsistent. It smelled like him, but then again it didn't. They were near the clearing when he picked up on the last two scents. Strong as Iruka's, but. . .

Akamaru interrupted his thought with a startled yelp. The dog shuddered to a stop on a branch and tucked his tail between his legs. Low frightened whimpers escaped his muzzle and he refused to go on.

"Hey, hey, what's the matter?" Kiba gave his hound a scratch under the ear, but Akamaru refused to move forward.

Asuma landed next to them. "What is it?"

"I don't know." Kiba patted Akamaru's head. "What do you smell?"

The dog backed away and whined in fear. Kiba, glancing around, dismounted and knelt down and tangled his fingers in the long soft fur. Akamaru's taile wagged a little at the gesture, but he whined again.

"Easy. There's no danger here, is there?" As the last word left his mouth he caught a horrifying stench. He wrinkled his nose and turned to get a better angle on the wind. The smell of death was feint, but steady. He leaned forward and sniffed again, swaying back and forth to try and zero in on the direction the source was coming from, but the smell was every where.

The rest of Asuma's team landed nearby and hunkered down.

"Was there a fight here?" Kiba asked.

"Not that we could detect. Why?" Shikamaru slumped against a large trunk and half closed his eyes.

"Because this place wreaks with death!"

Akamaru whimpered an agreement.

"Are you sure?" Asuma asked.

Kiba leveled his gaze towards the tree line. "Sure as the grave it's self." He half growled. "Tell me." Nails dug in to the bark under his hands. "Did Umino Sensei die here?"

"No." Ino said sounding a touch unnerved. "He's back in the Village."

Kiba and Akamaru glanced at each other. "Then he has to be the one who killed who ever was here. There's no doubt about that."

Shikamaru dropped down next to Kiba. "If that's true then he killed two Akastuki members by him self."

"Or. . ." Kiba said as he tested the air once more, noting the strange way the teacher's sent wavered from how it should be to some thing much more vile. ". . .he's not Umino Iruka."

Akamaru chuffed and nodded, he'd caught the same discrepancy.

"That was my conclusion too." Shikamaru said coldly. All eyes turned towards the tree line.

…...

Hinata finally looked up with dark eyes. "You saw a strange chakra that Naruto never had before." Her lower lip trembled, but she still refused to cry. "You saw evil enter in to him."

Neji nodded and closed his eyes. "I saw evil like no other enter his soul." He took a shaking breath. "And what did I ask of you?"

"To stay away from him." She clenched her fist. "But I can not accommodate that request, Neji. . . I. . ."

He smiled. "I know." Weakly he set his hand over his stomach. "I know, I don't believe in fate either, not any more. You were supposed to be the head of the clan, and I was supposed to serve you."

"Hanabi." Hinat said dryly. "She will be our master now."

"Your master." Neji half smiled. "I die free."

From behind them Guy stifled a sob.

"Take care of my team." He whispered.

"No." A flat, unimpressed, dry voice floated over the two Hyugas. Shino walked up to the couch and pulled out a Kunai. Roughly he shoved the blade in to Hinata's hands. "Cut him open."

"WHAT!" Lee and Guy yelped, shocked.

Shino turned and lifted his hand. "Lee, as you know, I saw Guy leave the hospital with Neji. As I have already explained to you I bugged each member of your team from the moment I suspected you were leaving. I did this for Hinata's sake."

She glanced up while clutching the blade tightly in her hands. "We tracked you here." Her knuckles were turning white. "To do what must now be done."

Guy trembled where he stood. "What are you going to do?"

Shino and Hinata looked at each other with stony expressions. Hinata spoke levelly. "We are going to cut him open. . ."

Lee, Guy and TenTen gasped.

". . .and I'm going to fill him with flesh eating maggots!" Shino finished.

Guy blinked, not expecting the reply given. Neji's eyes snapped open in shock as well. In tandem they both asked, "What?"

Shino sighed. "The larva of some kinds of bugs eat infected flesh. With my maggots in his wound he can be fully recovered in a mater of hours."

Guy dropped to his knees in front of Hinata and grabbed her shoulders. "It that _True_!"

At the same moment Neji again asked, "_What_?"

"Yes. But if it does not work I'm fully prepared to tell the truth and face my father and sister." Hinata replied, ignoring her cousin.

"Oh, _**Hell no**_." Neji rasped weakly.

"Neji." She turned to him, this time the tears were starting to spill. "I can't live with the guilt of. . ."

"I mean _hell no_ to the _bugs_." Neji growled. He struggled to sit up. "Though I will not allow you to turn your self in either!" He added, almost as an after thought.

Guy shoved him back down. "You could die!"

"I am _**NOT**_ letting him put some disgusting _grubs_. . ."

"_Maggots._"

". . . in to _my body_!"

Guy glanced back at his other two students. With a twinkle in his eye and a spark of **youthful hope** surging thorough his bones he said, "Students, hold him down!"

…...

Jiraya watched bemused at the way Kakashi, unmasked, was inhaling the plate of food in front of him. While the amount of food wasn't huge, the Sage Sanin didn't want to over load the Copy Cat's stomach right off the bat, it was no kid's meal either. Kakashi finished off one bowl of rice in the blink of an eye before tossing it aside and attacking the Miso Soup. Rice was sticking to his chin and nose, a rare sight indeed.

Jiraya held it in high regard that Kakashi was eating freely unmasked in front of him after all that had happened. Jiraya had seen the younger ninja maskless before, but the circumstances were never pleasant. Most of the time the sight was in a dimly lit cell of some torture chamber after they had been captured. They had always escaped, and they had always come home.

"If you don't slow down you'll choke."

Kakashi glanced up with noodles hanging out of his mouth. "Mmmph hnngth."

Jiraya chuckled and ruffled the silver hair. "I'm going to go tell Tsunade how you are handling food. In the mean time try to keep breathing all right? I don't want Naruto to come back and discover I let you die on Raman."

"Udon." Kakashi corrected him past another bite. "Not Raman."

Jiraya pulled his hand back and stuffed it in to his pocket. "Noodles, what ever. I'll be back in a couple of minutes, OK?"

The younger ninja nodded. "Bring desert."

"This is all you get for now, brat. You can find desert on your own once I spring you from this place."

"All right." He stuffed a bean bun in his mouth.

Jiraya stepped up to the door and pulled it open.

"Thanks." Kakashi said, almost under his breath. "I don't know what I would have. . ."

"Don't get all sentimental on me." Jiraya said, cutting him off with out turning back to look at him. "This isn't just for you, you know."

"I know, that's why I felt like saying it." Jiraya could hear the smile in the words.

"Don't thank me till you are a free man." He stepped out of the room and shut the door and realized that Kakashi had never _thanked_ him before. He grinned as he walked down the hall towards the stairs. Naruto, Kakashi had said, possessed some sort of strange power to change people. Change indeed had happened for the normally shut off shut down and Copy Cat Ninja. Trust was hard won in a world filled with pain and death, but trust Kakashi did.

After he'd lost his team Kakashi had rejected the notion of bonds and refused to allow any one to get past his barriers. Until now. Naruto, with is boundless love and affection, had broken in to Kakashi's walled off heart and filled it with light.

Minato would have been so proud of his son.

Jiray reached the bottom of the steps and headed out the front door whistling some broken happy tune. The sun shine was amazingly bright and cheery. It warmed every thing it touched with out burning and made every thing just look so much more alive than it had before. In a way, Jiraya mused, that's what Naruto did too. For nearly three years he's trained the boy, and for nearly three years he'd been amazed over and over again how one look or one laugh from the blond lit up the darkest room.

It had taken a long, _long_, time to melt Kakashi's icy, non-literal, mask of indifference and disinterest, but Naruto had done it. Jiraya crossed the street and walked down the road towards the tower, recalling all the ways Kakashi had tried to shut people out in the past. He'd been indifferent, distant, mysterious, and aloof. Now he was smiling and talking and sitting comfortably with his mask off and saying '_Thank you_'. The difference in his demeanor was like night and day.

He stepped off the curb and looked around the village. People were milling about, shopping, talking freely, all oblivious to the miracle that had taken place. Some even looked a little sad. One looked down right crest fallen.

That hear broken looking individual was Kotetsu. He was walking on the other side of the street with his head hung so low it looked like he might tip over. Standing on his lee side, dogging glances from the people on the street, was his partner Izumo.

Jiraya clicked his tongue in disapproval. Such faces on such a wonderful day! They must have ticked Tsunade off again and were now going on some sort of humiliating mission. What ever was bothering them, he decided, would NOT bother him too. Not when there was such wonder to behold from his adopted grandson! He continued walking and shortly arrived at the tower, still whistling the tune.

He stopped whistling when he entered and found the whole place was eerily quiet. Sadness was eating away at a number of faces. No one would look at him, no one would smile. He refused to frown. Even as people shot him worried glances or a look of pity.

The closer he came to Tsunade's office the more he realized it was rather dark in the halls. The faces of the ninja here were shadowed, covered, and averted. Deep down every thing echoed that some thing was wrong.

His smile started to waver. Just as he reached the door and lifted his hand to knock he scrounged for a pleasant memory to keep the happy feelings in his heart. The first thing that popped in to his mind was Kakashi with noodles hanging from his mouth. Half smiling, half slurping, the Copy Cat had looked years younger than he was. Almost childish.

That was enough to re-affix the sunny day to Jiraya's mind while in the dark tower. He rapped his knuckles on the door heartily and called out. "Tsunade, It's me."

The door opened a little and a sullen, teary eyed, Shuzune peered out from the small space. "Jiraya. . ."

This time the smile dropped completely with out resistance. "hey, what's wrong?"

She opened the door and beckoned him in side. "You'd better come inside and sit down for this."

Cautiously he entered, scanning the room for any indication of what the matter could be. As soon as he saw Tenzo his heart skipped a beat. The man looked half dead and Tsunade was clearly trying to do something medical to him. For some reason this man was supposed to be important, but why, Jiraya wasn't sure. He searched his memory for the answers. He'd just herd about him recently, hadn't he?

"_Naruto. . ."_

"_. . . he's away on a mission. I brought Tenzo in to the team."_

_Jiraya nodded slowly. "That's a smart move."_

Cold dread washed the last of the joy from Jiraya's bones. "Tsunade. . . Where is Naruto?"

She continued doing what she was doing, hands out, blue energy flowing from her palms.

"Tsunade." Jiraya hissed. "Tell me."

She dipped her head. Her hands started to shake so bad that she lowered them. "Forgive me, Captain Yamato, I don't know if I can draw out all of the poison at once. I have drawn out most of it, the rest I'll have to remove latter."

The unmasked ANBU didn't answer, but sat breathing numbly, staring blankly at her.

Jiraya reached out and grabbed the hokage's shoulders and twisted her towards him. "Answer me when I. . ." Christal blue caught his eye. Hanging down from her neck was her cursed gem.

Jiraya slowly let her go.

Despite the sun streaming in through the window, making the gem glitter brightly, he couldn't see the light any more. Not any more.

…...

Asuma surveyed the field as his team and Kiba searched it for any evidence to support the theory that the two akastuki men had simply gone another way. Never before had he felt more anxious to learn an enemy had slipped past one of the Leif's ninja. It meant that two S-ranked men were out on the loose trying to find and kill Naruto, the Jinchuriki, but the alternate was even worse.

To think that Iruka, the quiet ninja who taught school, could be a threat, was over whelming. Because he wasn't just a teacher, he was the Paper Work Ninja.

He knew all of Konoha's secrets.

An enemy like that wouldn't even need a jinchuriki to take down the village, all they would need it time.

Shikamaru appeared next to him with a troubled frown.

"Well?"

"While our team can't find a trace of evidence either way Kiba and Akamaru have mapped out the sent trail of a battle here. They even found a place where they thing two bodies may have been buried."

"May have been?" That did not sound reassuring.

"Setting aside the fact that these men were reported to be immortals. . ." He said slowly, ". . .the trail of the two simply stops at the graves. If they were taken they were summoned away."

Asuma chewed on his cigarette and scanned the clearing. "What else?"

"The only other sent here is, in fact, Umino's."

"And we are sure of this?"

"Like Kiba said, sure as the grave."

Asuma sighed and closed his eyes. "What do you recommend?"

"We have to capture him, but we have to do so in a non-confrontational way. If he did kill them and lie about it then. . ." He faltered.

"Then he's the biggest threat to the village we have at the moment." Asuma finished.

…...

Guy pressed all of his weight down on Neji's shoulders while the youth was snarling obscenities in his ear. Lee had one of his legs, while Tenten had another.

"Embrace the youthful insects!" Guy said with a grin.

"NO!" Neji twisted with surprising force for some one who had, only minutes before, seemed like he was on the very edge of death. "I'd rater _**die**_!"

Hinata pulled his shirt back and peeled away the bandages. "This may hurt." Her hands were steady, though she was still white knuckled.

Shino was standing next to her looking ever so slightly bored with the whole thing. "Any time."

She nodded firmly and bought the blade down to his skin. Neji shut his eyes and braced him self against the pain that he knew was sure to come, instead hinata pulled out two stitches, opening a very small hole.

Neji opened one eye. "That wasn't too . . ."

Shino, moving fast as lighting, slammed his hand down over the small reopened section of the wound. Neji shrieked before trying once more to writhe free. "NO! NONONONO _NOOOO_!" He stopped thrashing and shuddered. "NNAAAGHH! I CAN _FEEL THEM_ _**WIGGELING**_ _IN SIDE OF ME_!"

"Wriggle you youthful creatures! Eat my student's putrid rotting flesh!" Guy shouted in utter joy with man tears streaming down both cheeks.

"I %&# _HATE_ THIS TEAM!"

…...

Kakashi set aside the last bowl with a satisfied sigh. Lifting his hand he toyed with the dim, but steady sparks of chakra. By sun down he hoped to be home in his own bed, free to train out side of the constant scrutiny of the medical ward. Free to devise the next round of training that would be of some use to his students. Both of them.

He let the sparks fade and turned his attention back to the now empty try of food. Jiraya had been more than supportive of him, and far more than supportive of Naruto. As he pulled his mask up he smiled, content, and rested in the knowledge that as soon as Naruto returned the world would finally start to right it's self. He had Jaraia's protection and his health was recovering. There wasn't much that could go wrong now.

He'd even treat Naruto to the biggest bowl of ra. . .

A heavy knock at the door brought him from his thoughts.

"Enter." He called.

There was a moments hesitation before the door opened slowly. Jiraya entered, his face lined with dark sorrow. Instantly a art of Kakashi suspected that Jiraya was coming to tell him that Tsunade refused to allow him to leave, but instinct told him it was more serous than that. Kakashi swallowed a sudden wave of dread and forced him self to look care free.

"Some thing wrong?" He managed lightly, trying to sound indifferent.

Jiraya would not look at him. Instead he stiffly stepped away from the door and opened it wide. Tsunade entered and stood with her hands clasped tightly in front of her. Her face was hidden by her bangs.

"Lady Tsunade." Kakshi said cooly. He had to fight to keep a second wave of fear down at the sight of her. What had happened between them was still all too fresh in his mind, and he still want sure if he was safe around her. If any thing happened to him then he knew Naruto would never be able to contain him self. That thought alone was enough to cause his heart to skip a beat.

Maybe, he thought, what she had to say was worse than 'no, you can't leave', because she would not look at him. Her insistence on him answering the question about _that incident_ – he had to suppress a shudder - could mean she'd decided a much more direct approach was needed to get the answers she wanted. She'd nearly killed him for the information she wanted already, he knew she'd have no qualms about doing so again if she thought it was necessary.

Maybe she'd call in Ibiki to force him to talk. The information she wanted had been settled two years ago, and he was not going to give her the satisfaction of satisfying her own curiosity about what had happened. He refused to dredge up the past when it would do no one any good. It was irrelevant, already reported. . . and _personal_. He'd die for the village and he'd proven that already, so he thought just maybe he deserved enough respect to be allowed his own secrets.

He steeled his mind against the questioning he was sure to come.

Almost as if reading his thoughts to refuse cooperation she made room for a third individual to enter. Kakashi tensed, not wanting to see the torture specialist enter his room. Instead of Ibiki however, Tenzo his former ANBU team mate, stepped in unsteadily. The sight of his ashen form did not relive him from his worry, though it certainly was an unexpected shock. His mind realed at the posibilities of why the Hokage had brought Tenzo here, surely he didn't know any thing that could change Kakashi's mind about resisting.

Instantly Kakashi could see he was struggling to stand, and even fighting to breath. He swayed a little and it was all Kakashi could do to keep him self rooted on the bed and not leap up to steady the younger man.

He'd grown, Kakashi observed keenly, his shoulders were much wider and his over all body build was much larger now. He was no longer the spirited teen of yore, but a full grown assassin. An assassin who looked like he was on the verge of death. It was hard not to glare at Tsunade, she was again endangering one of his people.

Trying to sound as calm as he could he asked, "Ahh, Tenzo, are you in the wrong room?" He tilted his head, trying to look interested with out looking desperate. "You do not look too well."

"Kakashi, Captain Yamato requested to speak with you about his latest mission." Tsunade's words were lifeless and dreadfully cold.

"Yamato?" He frowned, confused. Code names meant that the an ANBU man was on a very special mission, one issued from the Hokage her self. He felt his stomach churned when he looked up at the former ANBU and saw the younger man's blank eyes bore in to his. Special missions usually meant special teams. Special teams were made up of special people. Tenzo's body was infused with cells from the first Hokage, the only Hokage that could control a tailed beast, his talents were like no other in the land of Fire.

Instantly Kakashi knew who else had made up 'Yamato's' team.

"Ah. . . you must have been the one who went on Naruto's spy mission." He forced a smile. "I hope he wasn't to much trouble for you." Knowing Naruto's boundless enthusiasm and Tanzo's dry no nonsense personality Kakashi could only imagine the sort of conversations the two had to have had. Then again Naruto hadn't been his usual happy self. "I hope Sakura kept him in line for you."

'Yamato' stared blankly before taking a deep breath. "I was asinged to take your students to the rendezvous point for Sasori's spy." His words were spoken with layers upon layers of remorse. As dry as he knew Tenzo to be Kakashi had never heard the man speak with such anguish in his voice. He'd been a light hearted man under the ivory mask of ANBU for as long as Kakashi could remember.

Swallowing thickly a wave of deep forbidding washed over his whole being. "So where are they now?" He hoped his words sounded unaffected. He did not want to let Taunade know his inner feelings were not as calm as a ninja of his caliber should be. He still didn't trust her and Jiraya's whole demeanor was eerily despondent.

In stead of an answer there was only silence. Kakashi glanced over at Jiraya. The Sage Sanin was still standing with a look of complete despair written on his face. His shoulders were slumped and his hands were completely lax at his sides. Looking again at Tsunade he realized she was clutching some thing over her chest. What ever it was was small enough to be completely hidden in her hand. Neither Sanin would look at him.

Kakashi fought against a surge of growing anxiety and asked again. "Tenzo. Where are my students?"

Tenzo shifted a little and looked up with dark eyes. "It was my fault, Kakashi Sempai." He reached back and pulled some thing from his pocket. As he held it out between them Kakashi reached for it numbly. It was a blue head band with golden strands of hair clinging to it. Large dark red stains marked where blood had soaked in to the fabric and dried on the shining metal.

His heart thumped strangely as the wight of the head band settled in to his palm. Rubbing his thumb over the red washed steel he realized that the only way Naruto would let some one take the head band Iruka had given him was if. . .

Again he tilted his head and tried to sound at ease and calm. "What about Sakura?" His heart would not stop racing and all of a sudden there wasn't enough air in the room.

"I'm sorry." The ANBU agent whispered.

Kakashi took a slow breath and tried to force him self to stay calm. "Who. . .?"

"The spy was Kabuto and we ran in to Orochimaru."

Kabuto. Kakashi searched his memory past his pounding heart, past the dizzying motion the room was starting to take on, for the person behind the name. He searched his mind for any information that would tell him what they were saying wasn't true. _Kabuto_.

The silver haired medic nearly killed Naruto before. Only the Hokage had been able to save him. Hokage – Tsunade - Sanin.

Sanin - Orichimaru. Orochimaru took Sauske. Kabuto and Orochimaru. . .

Kakashi looked up in to the bleak black eyes of the former ANBU man as his mind continued to try and proses what the truth was.

Orochimaru had experimented on Tenzo, giving him the power of the first Hokage, the power to control a tailed beast. Tenzo was called in to keep Naruto from loosing his grip on the Fox. Called to protect him during the mission while Kakashi him self was not there.

Kabuto and Orochimaru had killed. . .

. . . _Killed_. . .

"I'm so sorry, Senpai." Tenzo's voice was a rough whisper.

. . . Naruto. . .

Suddenly Kakashi felt ill.

…...

Naruto scrambled back on to his feat and charged, but thin black fingers of ink and white shimmering scaled serpents slid around him and bound him tightly. In rage he thrashed, but the more he moved the tighter the ink got. With a snarl he looked up at his white skinned prey.

_Panic_ and _Hate_ thundered through his mind burning all reason away. Like stubble in a field his thoughts were licked clean away by the flames of rage and terror.

The Serpent Sanin was leaning heavily against the wall, looking at him with disgust. "Kabuto, I thought you killed that thing."

He was weak! Naruto could smell his blood, taste it! He snarled and gnawed at his binds. Under his fanged teeth he felt one snake's spine snap. It was amazingly gratifying. Looking up with it's limp form dangling from his jaws. . .Like Sakura had been. . . he growled.

The gray haired medic steadied Orochimaru gently. "So did I."

Naruto fixed his eyes of the byspeckles man and recoiled as the fear over took the need for vengeance. _Should I fight or should I Flee?_ Rage resurged. _**Kill him!**_

Naruto felt a surge of chakra rumble from his whole body. The snakes burned away and the ink evaporated.

"Naruto. . . Please. . . don't let go."

Snarling he turned his head to the source of the pathetic pleading voice. Sakura was sprawled, bleeding, from a far corner of the hall. He ignored her, she was of no concern to him now. All he wanted was to kill the medic. The two rough ninja backed away as he crouch, readying for the attack. Drool dripped from his fangs as he dug his claws in to the stone under him. He opened his mouth to let loose pent up chakra. . .

And heard Sakura scream. "SAI, _PLEASE_ _**DON'T DO IT**_!"

Pain exploded in the back of his head and his throat was suddenly filled with the bloody metal of a kunai. The chakra evaporated instantly.

After that very thing went black.


	15. Intermission Interview Special

Hello, Chapter fourteen marks the end of Part one, a full ten chapters past where I thought Part one would really end! I have a beta reader I'm working with now and will take this opportunity to try and go back and fix a LOT of the errors that have happened in the last fourteen chapters, and I'll be fixing some loose plot elements too. Nothing BIG will change for you guys, but I will be able to sleep better at night knowing that some errors will be fixed.

I confess have most of chapter fifteen written, but It's very badly done. I want to have an update every week, but in order to try and give you the story I want to tell, in the best possible way to tell it, a number of chapters get written up to three times. Chapter Two was written Five times, I think, before I managed to zero in on what I wanted. So do forgive me when my updates are slow. I'll have Chapter Fifteen, the first chapter of part Two, up soon.

Till then I hope you will allow me to play at Talk show host in this special update! I'm interviewing a number of characters and tossing out hints of what's to come. I hope you all like it, I had a LOT of fun writing it, and I'd love to know If I pulled this format of writing off. Id like you to open up you tube if you can and what ever song I have in BOLD I'd like you to listen too. They go along with the characters I interview. If you can't do youtube then I'd love it if you could find a way to listen to the songs. Just do so legally, OK? ~_^

I'd LOVE to hear who YOU would like me to interview next. Tellme what character you want to hear from and I'll see if I can whip up another special for when I need to take brakes now and then, or when I'm running behind on my updates!

And now... _On to the show_!

* * *

*A skinny blond short girl peers at every one in the audience and waves*

Hello, I'm TT Snim, and I would like to welcome you to . . .

_**The Fox and the Wolf Intermission Interview Special!**_

YAY!

*Throws Confetti*

Expect the unexpected! Read the unread! Touch the untouchable!

In this break from the main story I'll be conducting interviews with the characters, discussing the events that happened in part one, and try to ascertain what will happen next in part two.

Tonight, or day depending on what time zone you are in, we have a very special line up. We have some of the cast of Team Seven with us. . .

*People cheer*

. . .And we have Iruka with us. . .

*People cheer some more*

. . . And the Lady Hokage her self, Tsunade!

*People cheer and whistle*

First up in our interview is with. . . *Looks down at a sheet of paper.*. . . NARUTO UZUMAKI!

*Band plays **Billy Joel's Only The good Die Young**. Naruto enters the room, dressed in a black pin striped suit with an orange tie. He pumps his fists and whoops. The crowd goes wild.*

Naruto: WHO YEAH! BELIVE IT! HERE I AM!

TT Snim: Ah, full of energy as ever, have a seat!

*A talk show set magically appears and the music fades away.*

Naruto: Wow, ha, cool!

*Naruto takes a seat in one of the chairs and settles in.*

Naruto: Comfy!

TT Snim: Glad you like it. Glad you could be here.

Naruto: I'm glad to be here too! Wouldn't want to disappoint my fans. I mean, they are every thing, right? My fans are what make my world go round.

TT Snim: It's good to have people who like you, yeah. So, uh, do you have any thing you want to say to them before I ask questions...?

Naruto: Oh, yeah.

*Naruto turns to the fans watching*

Naruto: You guys are the best, you know that? Like, literately, you totally kick other fandoms asses. Who even watches Bleach? Any one? And the Death Note people scare the crap out of me!

*The fans laugh, the sound is enhanced by caned laughter*

TT Snim: I know, and the FMA people too, they seem crazy.

Naruto: Naw, Ed is awesome. Sort of has issues though, you know? But who doesn't?

*Naruto Takes a sip from the complementarity mug of mystery liquid that sits on the host's desk*

Naruto: He's nice, his brother is cool.

TT Snim: Ah, so you know him?

Naruto: Oh yeah, we run in to each other a lot after filming is done for the day. He's fun, some times we go clubbing.

TT Snim: *Laughs* Clubbing? No way.

Naruto: Way. Like, two weeks ago, he and I were at this really shady place, and no one would believe it was really us. They thought we were look alikes. So we ended up doing some moves, I did the Sexy clone thing and he turned a barstool in to some sort of. . . * Laughs * He turned it in to a poll.

TT Snim: I don't know if I want to hear this story. Sexy clone and a poll?

Naruto: Thats not what I meant. I realized that's probably what it sounded like when I was saying it though. No, he turned it in to one of those . . . what do you call them. . . You know you point at school boards with them?

TT Snim: Pointing stick?

Naruto: *Nods* Yeah, Yeah, that, only, like, it was _huge_. He was trying to impress some girls from Azumanga. I think he got slapped or some thing. By the time he was with them I was trying to get away from that creepy teacher from the same show. Um. . . Kimura. . .? He's scary.

TT Snim: Well, you know a guy like that would be all over you while you were being sexy.

Naruto: Yeah, I sort of was asking for it. *Takes another sip*

TT Snim: So I have a number of questions for you about part one of the Fox and the Wolf.

Naruto: Awesome, lets hear them!

TT Snim: OK, question number one. This story, The Fox and the Wolf, diverges from Cannon quite a bit and is a little darker. Are you finding this hard to work with or is darker some thing you are enjoying?

Naruto: Do I enjoy darker? *Thinks* I like how I can stretch my self a bit here, but I also like being light hearted. It's been great, trying new stuff. I'm having fun.

TT Snim: That brings me to the next question. Do you want there to be more humor in the next part?

Naruto: I think I would like to see some funny stuff happen, but I don't want the whole ton of every thing flipped all around.

TT Snim. OK. Here's a question a lot of people are wondering. You are sixteen and at that age most people have a boy friend or girl friend. Do you think you'll find that first love in Part Two?

Naruto: Oh, heh, wow... love? *Nervous laugh* I think for now there are. . . as I understand it my character here has to many problems to be looking for the added head ache of a relationship. But. . . He does find him self involved with some one in a NON romantic way.

TT Snim: Ohhh, can you divulge any on who that will be or why?

Naruto: Well, I can tell you that that person will have their own problems and at first not want to have some one close to them.

TT Snim: Question number three might tie in to this. This story has a lot of parallels to the Cannon, even going so far as to have Naruto heading in to save Sauske from Orochimaru. The next question is will Sauske be coming home or. . .

Naruto: I don't think I can say to much about what will happen to Sauske. Or, for that matter, what happens BECAUSE of Sauske. But I know for a fact that the fans will be cheering when we all get to that part in the story. At least I think they will.

TT Snim: Does some thing good happen?

Naruto: Hey. . . *Naruto leans back and lounges in the chair with a grin* . . .If I'm involved nothing but good can happen right?

*The fans laugh*

TT Snim: Seems like that some times. That brings us to one of our last questions. It has been hinted over and over again some thing happened when Garra was revived and now you have a problem of some sort. Can you give us any information what that problem really is? How is this different from cannon.

Naruto: *rubs back of head nervously* Ah... I can't tell you any thing, no that's not true. I CAN say that it has to do with some sort of prophesy.

TT Snim: You mean the one given to Jiraya by the king of the frogs?

Naruto: Some thing like that, yeah. But it's not, you know, cannon. It diverges, in some ways it diverges a lot. In others not so much.

TT Snim: Diverges like how the Akatsuki were killed but not by Asuma and his team. Or how Sai and Yamato are now with Team Seven and fought with Kabuto.

Naruto: Right. But at the same time it's not really what happened. It's different. It's leading up to the main plot. So far this has been an introduction.

TT Snim: So this story has a lot left to tell?

Naruto: Let me put it this way. If people don't like how Cannon is going they can follow this story instead. We haven't even touched half of the characters to come and there are so many twists planed for Part Two that are just to set up things. . . *Naruto smiles* And we have some character redesigns and some OCs that will be added latter on too. Basicly a lot of stuff will happen.

TT Snim: So this is going to be on going?

Naruto: Yes, if every thing runs smoothly on production's end then yes, this could go on for a really long time.

TT Snim: And it's going to be like cannon, but not like cannon?

Naruto: Yeah, like but no like.

TT Snim: Sounds like it's going to be interesting.

Naruto: It's going to be a whole lot of fun, I think.

TT Snim: Last question is. . .

Naruto: Oooh, last question! Lets see what we've got.

TT Snim: Rumor has it Naruto gets a new super power. Is that true and what is it?

Naruto: *Laughs* That's two questions.

TT Snim: Will you answer them?

Naruto: Well. . . There is some thing relieved about this version of Naruto that Cannon Naruto doesn't go in to. It's not a new power, it's just. . . It's like. . . How do I want to say this?

TT Snim: You don't want to give any thing away.

Naruto: Right. I don't want to say 'Here it is, this is what you have all been lead up to' and ruin the surprise. BUT. . .

TT Snim: But you can give us a hint?

Naruto: Yes, it has to do with that Prophecy thing, and it has to do with how my character has the power to change people. I think Kakashi mentions that a lot. He says 'he has a mysterious power to change people'. See? I can totally talk about that because it's cannon. I don't have to get my pay docked by any body for spilling secrets.

*Both laugh*

TT Snim: All right, Awesome! I can't wait for more and I'm sure the fans can't wait for more.

Naruto: I can't wait to do more.

TT Snim: LETS HERE IT FOR NARUTO FOLKS!

*Band plays **Billy Joel's Only The good Die Young**. Fans cheer and clap. Naruto and TT Snim stand and hug and chatter as the scene fades to commercial*

*Bowl of steaming white bland looking Raman appears*

Tired of the same old slop?

*A raman stand filled with laughing people and children replaces the bland bowl. People are laughing and talking while bowels of raman with a lot of colorful ingredients are being handed out. The stand's banner "Ichiraku Raman" flashes over the scene.*

Try Ichiraku's Raman! The most flavorful Raman in Konoha! Rumored favorite of the local Jinchuriki him self, Naruto Uzumaki!

*Naruto appears on the screen with thumbs up*

Naruto: It's the best! BELIVE IT!

*Band is playing **Naruto Shipuden Opening 1**. Fans are clasping along. TT Snim is nodding her head in time with the music*

TT Snim: Yeah! Every body stand up!

*Every one stands up and claps and starts to sing*: Yeah three two one MAKE SOME NOISE!

*Band stops and people shout and cheer as they return to their seats. TT Snim motions for some quiet.*

TT Snim: All right, that was fun. That was grate. We did, we made a lot of noise. I hope our neighbors down the street won't complain. They are trying to film yet _another_ ending for Neon Genesis Evangelion. They say in this film the world is ended not by waring angels, but by multiple verssions of the pilots all knowing one truth. Gainax apparently has opened up communication with Lucas Studios and is looking in to some of the technology used to make the 3D Star Wars siries on cartoon network.

*People cheer and applaud*

TT Snim: They are calling it Neon Genesis Evangelion Wars: You are (now) a clone.

*Band strikes the 'pun drums' and caned laughter fills the air*

TT Snim: You know I don't like either show? I just tell the jokes I'm told to tell. It keeps this show going. Keeps my pay check out of the paper shredder.

*Real laughter fills the studio*

TT Snim: All right ladies ad Gentlemen, a real power house, the Blond bomb shell her self. . . Senju Tsunade!

*Band starts to play **The Commodores' Brick House**. People cheer and boo. Tsunade enters in a red dress and curled hair. She waves.*

Tsunade: Ah, sounds like I have a mixed crowd.

*Band stops playing, TT Greets Tsunade by shaking her hand and leading her to the chair. Both take their seats.*

TT Snim: Hi, Thank you for coming!

Tsunade: Thank you, it's nice to be here.

TT Snim: Wonderful. We are glad you could make the time to come. We have some questions for you, if you'll answer them.

Tsunade: So long as they aren't classified, I'd be sure to answer what ever you have to ask me.

TT Snim: All right, wonderful. You look fantastic, by the way. Love the dress.

Tsunade: *Smiles* Do you? Jiraya insisted I dress up for this. Said some thing about PR and. . . I don't know, I stopped listening when he handed me his credit card.

*Audience laughs*

TT Snim: He did?

Tsunade: He's a very sweet man under all of that 'old fart crust'. He really is.

TT Snim: In part one you two had a scene. . .

Tsunade: Oh, yes. *Blushes* Where I fall all over him and we get discovered. *Nods, looking some what embarrassed* I almost refused to do that part.

TT Snim: Why? *Laughs* I enjoyed it.

Tsunade: Well I didn't know if it was plot relevant. See, I didn't think it was necessary.

TT Snim: Was it?

Tsunade: I don't know. Then it didn't look like it was.

TT Snim: But now? That's one of our questions, actually. Rumor has it you and Jiraya have a romance started up. Can you tell us about that?

Tsunade: *Crosses legs and clears throat* Well, I don't know if I can call what will happen a romance. But there's a lot of scenes where we are together in part two. There is a lot of talking. I don't know if any thing beyond that is planned, but I have been trying to run a village, so...

TT Snim: So you haven't looked at the outline or script or. . ."

Tsunade: No, nothing really. The outline once, yes. But that's about all. I know more or less the over all plot, but I haven't seen the finner details yet.

TT Snim: I was talking to Naruto and he said some thing about part Two revolving around a prophesy, is that in the out line?

Tsunade: I think I read some thing like that, but it didn't stick out. It wasn't the big focus.

TT Snim: So what was the big Focus?

Tsunade: Mostly, I think the big push for Part Two is more character development. I thought I saw a lot more about Root and what it was trying to do. I saw Iruka's Character was supposed to continue to be a strong influence. I also thought I heard a rumor about some Akastuki scenes, but I don't know if they are finalized yet.

TT Snim: I see. So you haven't got any juicy details about scenes?

Tsunade: No. *Laughs* No juice tonight.

TT Snim: OK, well, that cuts down our question load for you.

Tsunade: I'm sorry.

TT Snim: No, It's OK, they pay me by the hour, not by word count.

*Audience laughs*

Tsunade: I hope I haven't cut out every thing for you.

TT Snim: No, we have some good ones here. *Flips through question sets* Ah. . . here we go. Your character almost killed Kakashi to get information from him. A lot of people thought of you as a sort of villein after that. Is your character in this story a bad guy or. . .

Tsunade: I don't think what I did. . . My character did here. . . no that wasn't bad. I think with the information given there was little else that could be done. My job is to protect the village and some times you have to get your hands dirty. Because life isn't fare and it isn't safe... And it's one of those things where it's better if one person's life is in danger while every one else remains safe.

TT Snim: The good of the many?

Tsunade: Yes, the good of the many.

TT Snim: Do you think your character will continue to have to deal in shades of gray?

Tsunade: I think so long as she is Hokage she will have to walk a very fine line to keep the village safe. After all if she can't trust the people around her than what else can she do?

TT Snim: True enough. What would you like to happen for your character?

Tsunade: I want to see my character get some time off. I want a spa and a hotel and some breakfast in bed and men with well sculpted bodies feeding me grapes while faining me. I want the royal treatment baby!

*Every one laughs*

TT Snim: Don't we all! Thank you so much, but that's all the questions I have.

Tsunade: I'm glad I could answer what I have.

TT Snim: *Stands and claps* Lets hear it for Konoha's Hokage!

*Audience claps and the band starts playing **The Commodores' Brick House again**. TT Snim and Tsunade chat as the scene fades to commercials*

Narrator: Are you tired? Is your energy level so low you can hardly climb the walls?

*A woman in green ninja garb sluggishly walks up a wall before falling down flat.*

Narrator: Maybe it's time you tried Sage Stage Boosters. Sage Stage Boosters can help you keep your energy up for longer, and keeps your body working stronger with out artificial enhancers that could lead to a buzz crash right in the middle of an important activity, such as a fight.

*Image of pills appears. The woman takes one and races to the ceiling.*

Woman: I feel like I could kick all of Sound's ass right here, right now!

Narrator: Sage Stage Boosters are not for every one. Possible Side Effects may include dizziness, loss of balance, difficulty breathing or heart attack. If you have had one or more incidents of kidney puncture, liver rupture, or spinal leakage, or are over the age of twenty six or older, you may be at an increased risk for all of these symptoms and conditions. Talk to your medical nin before taking Sage Stage Boosters. Never take Sage Stage Boosters if you are pregnant, think you may be pregnant, or are planning on becoming pregnant.

Woman: I've never felt better!

*Band is playing mariachi music as every one claps and stomps. TT Snim waves her hands to quiet every one down*

TT Snim: OK, OK. . . Wow, what a grate group of people out there! Aren't you all just the cat's meow?

*Audience cheers and laughs*

TT Snim: Speaking of cats our next guest, despite being an avid dog lover, has been called The Copy Cat. . . *Audience erupts in applause and cheers. TT Snim raises her voice to get over the noise.* . . . THE COPY CAT NINJA, HATAKE KAKASHI!

*Band starts playing **Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers**. Kakashi Casually strolls out in a suit and red tie. He waves before stuffing his hands in to his pockets. TT Snim comes up and kisses both cheeks. Both take their seats. The audience claps and whistles with the music.*

TT Snim: Welcome! Wow, every one loves you to night!

Kakashi: All ways.

*Camera Pans over the audience who is still rocking to the music*

TT Snim: OK. . .

*Band stops playing the music and the clapping dies away slowly*

TT Snim: Wow, much love from all. Thank you much for being here!

Kakashi: *Settles in to the chair* Thank you for inviting me. It's good to be out of that hospital room I've been trapped in for all of part one.

TT Snim: You have, haven't you? The whole of Part one. . . wow.

Kakashi: Yeah. All of it.

TT Snim: Well do you think you'll get to be other places for part Two?

Kakashi: Oh, yes, they can't make me stay there any more! *Cuts air with hands, emphasising the statement.* I'm busting out!

TT Snim: You are? Literally?

Kakashi: Well, no. . .

TT Snim: So do they let you out?

Kakashi: I make them let me go and then I go do some ass kicking.

*Audience claps and cheers*

TT Snim: Who's ass?

Kakashi: I can't tell you that. *Shifts in his seat and picks up the mug* But I do get out.

TT Snim: Awesome. I have some questions for you, if you'll answer them for us.

Kakashi: Go for it. *Looks at the mug for a moment before setting it back down*

TT Snim: OK, well, first question. We know a lot of the mystery of the first part was all about your team mate Rin.

Kakashi: *Nods* Yeah, her. That was started ion what? Chapter three? I don't remember.

TT Snim: Yeah, I think that's it. The question is do we get to find out what happened to her in the next chapter?

Kakashi: *Leans back and rubs chin* Uh. . . I. . . Yes but no.

TT Snim: Yes but no?

Kakashi: We get to see things. Do we see the truth? Maybe.

TT Snim: Some people have speculated if there was some sort of romance between you and Rin. Was there?

Kakashi: Well. . . It's complicated. We do get some questions answered I think in this Next part, but not all of them. It seems to me it just brings up more questions, really. I think that's all I can say with out giving away to much, right now.

*A voice from the band's stand drifts, fragmented, over to TT Snim*

TT Snim: What?

*Voice continues*

TT Snim: Oh, right. . . My band leader and I were talking about the topic of Rin in Part Two and we wanted to know if you could sum up the whole topic with a selection of music.

Kakashi: Oh boy, let me think. *Rubs chin again* Um. . . **Sheryl Crow's Tomorrow Never Dies**. It's one of the Bond Movie scores, I think. If any one is interested in listing to that they'll get a feel for what's to come.

TT Snim: So she's a spy?

Kakashi: All ninja's are spies.

*Band starts to play Sheryl Crow's Tomorrow Never Dies*

TT Snim: Ah, that's. . . that's a very . . . Bond Songs are very sensual.

Kakashi: They can be.

TT Snim: So maybe if there is romance it's one sided?

Kakashi: You'll just have to wait till it comes out.

*Band stops playing the song*

TT Snim: Fair enough. So next question. In part one your character learned that Naruto was dead. How do you think this will effect things? How does your character react?

Kakashi: Well, badly. *Laughs* I think that's already been established.

TT Snim: We all know Naruto isn't dead.

Kakashi: Right.

TT Snim: How will your character react when they are reunited? I think every one wants to know about that.

Kakashi: How people expect the reaction to go, and how it will actually go, will be two different things. Like, say, every one has seen how in this story I'm all supportive and trying to protect the little monster. But, you know, he's immortal now. I think my character will find him self in a real dilemma of not knowing how to protect some one who can't die. At least not die by massive trauma. I don't know about poisons yet. I don't think that topic has come up.

TT Snim: Do you think it will? Do you think it will be an issue?

Kakashi: *Takes a breath in and holds it while thinking* Uh... I honestly don't know. I don't know. I do know that when they do finally meet up they get stuck together.

TT Snim: Naruto hinted that his ability to change people is focused here in this next part. Will that come in to play with the team as a whole do you think?

Kakashi: Naturally. Every thing he gains, Cannon or not, changes the dynamics of the team every time.

TT Snim: Will it affect your characters together?

Kakashi: *Nods* He changes a lot of people. But we have to ask, what does 'change' mean? I think his character alters every one who encounters him. Every one. No one is immune.

TT Snim: I've heard a Rumor that your character Returns to ANBU.

Kakashi: Ah, yes, ANBU. Yes, there is a return to ANBU, but for what reason? That's the real question.

TT Snim: So much mystery. One more question. There's another rumor about you and Tenzo and a possible kiss? Like a kiss on the lips?

Kakashi: *Laughs and leans forward uncomfortably* A kiss?

TT Snim: Is there some truth to this? This Story is supposed to be non Yaoi. . . so. . .

Kakashi: *Rubs the back of the neck nervously* Ah. . . Well. . . that's classified! *Laughs again*

TT Snim: So there was?

Kakashi: This story IS Non Yaoi. And that's all I'm going to tell you.

TT Snim: Being evasive, I see how it goes. Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see, huh?

Kakashi: Yes, we will.

TT Snim: Thanks so much for enduring my questioning. LETS HEAR IT FOR THE COPY CAT NINJA!

*The audience erupts in to clapping and whistling as the band again starts to play **Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers** again. TT Snim and Kakashi shake hands and chat and laugh as the scene fades to a commercial brake*

*A school play ground is shown filled with children playing and getting dirty. Shizune appears with a needle in one hand an a child under the other.*

Shizune: School can be a wonderful place to learn how to defend the village from foreign invaders, but it's also a place to be come besieged by foreign invaders. Germs, like enemy ninjas, can attack with out warning,and often with out being noticed until it's to late.

*Gently pokes the child in her arms with the needle*

Shizune: Be sure to protect our future by protecting your children from the flu this school season. Bring them in for their vaccinations. All vaccinations are free, and come with a complementary treat for your tot.

*Shizune hands the child a sucker*

Shizune: There you go, all better.

*Child chews on the candy and smiles*

*Band is blaring **We Will Rock You by Queen** while the Audience stomps in time to the music*

TT Snim: Welcome back!

*Band lets the music die*

TT Snim: Ah, very good. Rocking you was a lot of fun, but we have a serious topic tonight to address. The last Little Orphan Anni comic has been printed in the news papers. That's right, from mow on the little red head will no longer be seen in American news print. An era has passed.

*Audience awes in sadness*

TT Snim: Yes, apparently now the little orphan will be turned in to a million dollar industry of toys games and graphic novels. She's made it BIG, but still can't find her own family.

*Audience awes in sadness again*

TT Snim: Maybe she'll have better luck if she joins the Konoha Ninja Academy, right?

*Audience cheers and hollers as the band starts to play **Schools Out for Summer by Alice Cooper**. Iruka walks out and waves. He is in jeans and a button down blue shirt. TT Snim takes both his hands and greets him warmly before both walk over to their seats.*

TT Snim: Hello! Welcome! It's good to see you here, you look grate!

*Band lets the music fade out*

Iruka: Thanks, I'm glad to be here. This is. . . This set is nice. I like the band, that's a nice touch.

TT Snim: Thank you! We like to bring our guests in with some fanfare.

Iruka: Ah, just the fans would have been enough. *Turns to the audience* You guys. . . you are all. . . look at you. Your amazing. *Audience cheers and claps*

TT Snim: Don't get them started.

Iruka: *Laughs* Sorry.

TT Snim: So you, how are you? Are you enjoying this story so far?

Iruka: Yes, I'm having a blast. This has been so much more than what I thought it would be.

TT Snim: Isn't it true your character almost wasn't even in this story?

Iruka: *Laughs again* No, no I had a part, but it was originally going to be completely different. The whole plot was going to be different. Originally my. . . the Iruka that was to appear. . . was going to find out Naruto's character had lost control of the Kyubbi twice and was going to be up set about that. But that supposedly didn't have enough weight to make the plot work. So the whole story was in limbo for. . . wow. . . some thing like a year? Maybe? Before my character got it's footing.

TT Snim: So your character basically launched the story single handedly?

Iruka: *Blushes* Ah... haha, yeah. I don't know if I can say that. It just worked out that I was holding every thing back. Once my character was hammered out then every thing could work. I was the writer's block. In the way.

TT Snim: I doubt you could ever be in the way.

Iruka: *Fidgets and smiles* I can, I get in the way of objects tossed.

TT Snim: That's called a target.

Iruka: Yeah, OK. Maybe.

TT Snim: So you have to play two people. A good Iruka and an evil Iruka named Fuka. . .

Iruka: Evil is a strong word, I think.

TT Snim: To strong? Is Fuka not Evil?

Iruka: Fuka is the opposite of Iruka.

TT Snim: But you are so good. I can't think of any other word to describe your character.

Iruka: My character is human. Good and Evil come in shades in every one. Fuka is. . . Iruka was a wild, wild child. He was a real brat, as every one knows. A hellion in the streets. The only thing that could stop him from being a town terror was the Third Hokage him self.

TT Snim: So the Third took you more or less under wing?

Iruka: No, more like took me under his belt. *Laughs* Straightened me out the hard way. Iruka wanted to be noticed and glorified and loved and all of those things ambitious people want. In my character's younger days after the attack his ambitious nature had gone wild.

TT Snim: So he had to put all that activity away when the Third got a hold of him?

Iruka: Yeah. He suppressed all of that negative energy. Then Danzo let all of that energy free. Like releasing a Jeannie from a bottle. That's what Fuka is. He's not Evil, he's ambitious. What he decides he wants will show if he's good or evil.

TT Snim: We know he's been ordered to kill Kakashi. Will Fuka try to? Will he be able to?

Iruka: He manages to get to Kakashi while he's helpless, yes. But I can;t tell you what happens after that.

TT Snim: I know Kakashi can't be killed here, not yet, I think every one knows he won't be killed.

Iruka: Well, no, but he's not the same afterwards.

TT Snim: Because of what Fuka does to him?

Iruka: Because of the way the story develops, but your right, he's not. . . Fuka tries to get him a number of times in a number of ways. It's an ongoing thing, in Part Two, the fighting.

TT Snim: So you mean Kakashi and Fuka will duke it out?

Iruka: All I can say is that you don't have to kill people to win a fight.

TT Snim: Ohhh. . . that's tantalizing.

Iruka: Is it?

TT Snim: So a question that's been coming up about your character is he killed the two Akastuki members. Just how Strong is your character?

Iruka: I'm not sure, but I know we haven't seen the biggest fight yet. We get to see some action, I think, coming up.

TT Snim: Fuka isn't terribly worried about killing people. Will people get killed?

Iruka: I can say that there will be one confirmed death that's possibly attributed to Iruka and Fuka, there may be more.

TT Snim: So we see some real blood shed in Part Two?

Iruka: Yeah, some people meet a very unfortunate end. But Iruka or Fuka isn't the only one killing.

TT Snim: Will main characters die?

Iruka: I can't tell you that.

TT Snim: Who else does the killing?

Iruka: Again, I really can't tell you any thing.

TT Snim: You are no help at all.

Iruka: *Laughs* I'm sorry. You know a teacher isn't going to let any one read from the answer sheet.

TT Snim: *Laughs* No, I guess not. Now there is a rumor your character ends up living with a woman? Is that true?

Iruka: Where did you hear that?

TT Snim: I have my sources.

Iruka: Living with a woman. I can't tell you if that happens or not.

TT Snim: Still not giving us answers before the big test?

Iruka: No, I just don't know. I mean we tossed around some plot ideas, but living with a woman wasn't there. I think I was supposed to be watched for a time by some one. Maybe that's what you heard.

TT Snim: Hmmm...

Iruka: I know my character ends up being dragged in to a psyche evaluation. Maybe that...?

TT Snim: I don't know. I'll have to make some calls. Any way, one last big question... We know News of Naruto's death has reached the village. How does your character react when he hears about it?

Iruka: I think here is a good example of that whole Good and Evil dilemma thing again. My character has to make a choice after hearing the news and. . . it's like I said, choosing actions is what makes us or breaks us. Both sides of the character will be tested.

TT Snim: Well that's cryptic.

Iruka: I don't give out easy answers, do I?

TT Snim: No. *Laughs*

Iruka: I'm used to be the one asking questions, really.

TT Snim: Yeah, I can see how a teacher would be. . .

Iruka: In fact. . . *Pulls out some papers* The cast and I have a number of questions for you.

TT Snim: Oh, Really? That's. . . I don't know if I can answer any. *Nervous laugh*

Iruka: *Stands up* Trade me places?

TT Snim: Sure, what the heck.

*TT Snim and Iruka trade chairs. Band starts playing **Maniac from Flash Dance** for TT Snim.*

TT Snim: Very funny guys.

*Audience starts clapping with the music*

Iruka: *Takes the desk chair and straightens out his notes* Catchy. Fits you.

TT Snim: Well, I suppose I'm a little crazy.

*Band fades the music out*

Iruka: Yes, aren't we all.

TT Snim: Like your character.

Iruka: I'm going to start with some questions about the Akastuki.

TT Snim: OK.

Iruka: In the original cannon there has been a lot more Akastuki activity. Are you steering away from that or will they be more prevalent in the part to come?

TT Snim: Ah, well, I have a LOT planned with them, actually. Right now my Focus is on ROOT, but, obviously, one can't parallel canon with out bringing them in to the mix at some point.

Iruka: So they will be a big part of the plot?

TT Snim: Yes, a very large part. *Pulls one leg up and sits on it* But I have a lot to set up first.

Iruka: Will you add characters to the Akastuki? I know you mentioned there will be OCs in the future.

TT Snim: I'm not entirely sure how every thing will take shape yet, but I think there are enough numbers that we don't need a lot of new Akastuki members. There will be some new bad guys, yes, and they will have ties to the Akastuki.

Iruka: OK. Will the Akastuki's objective be the same?

TT Snim: Capturing the tailed beasts? Yes. But also no. They want to capture the beasts, but not for the same reasons as stated in the cannon.

Iruka: What about ROOT? Root wasn't expounded upon in Cannon a whole lot. . .

TT Snim: All waisted potential. I wanted to make it a real threat and bring it to a head. I also wanted to brake up the threats and spread them out. I felt Cannon had to much going on all at once and needed to be ironed out. Basically I wanted there to be one crisis at a time.

Iruka: And both organizations are focused on Naruto.

TT Snim: Well, yeah, every thing in this story is. But Naruto as a Jinchuriki is a highly sought after comodity. He's also different than other Jichurikis, so it makes him an extra valuable prize.

Iruka: You have plans for the other Jinchurikis too, right?

TT Snim: Yeah. I know a lot of them were brought in as filler in the anime, but I want to develop them for what they are. Again, there was a LOT of waisted plot potential there. But I don't like how some of them were handled. I will have a lot of character redesigned by then. And some personality swaps too. I think people will like what I have planned. Especially for Yugiti Nii and Killer Bee. Bee, I think, I will rename him. I'm going to do a LOT of revamp work on almost all of them. But Bee is going to be my special project.

Iruka: Can you give us any idea of what you will be doing for him?

TT Snim: Well, I have this idea that I liked the back story for Utakata, the six tailed slug's host. I liked how he was hunted because he's a Jichuriki. But the way Utakata looks makes me think he'd be better suited for a sedentary lordly position. Maybe even a bad guy almost. And he's got the six tailed slug...

Iruka: Does having a certain tailed beast have significance?

TT Snim: Now It's my turn to say I can't answer that. Back to Bee. . . I liked the back story for Utakata, but I wanted to put that back story on Bee instead. I also want to change how he looks and talks. Loose the crazy white hair and corn rows, change it to brown hair and give him dread locks. Make him more of a wild man looking guy. Gruf and quiet because he's been forced to live alone. Don't get me wrong, I like Killer bee how he is in the cannon, but by the time we get to him if I left him alone he just wouldn't fit in the story at all.

Iruka: You mentioned Yugiti Nii.

TT Snim: Yeah, I wanted her and Naruto to interact. I want him to make contact with a as many of the Jinchuriki as I can manage before I get deep in to the PAIN character. So I'm leaving them all open for redesign and editing.

Iruka: Pain? You are following the cannon really very closely than, aren't you?

TT Snim: I'm using it as a map, but I'm taking different roads to get to all the same places.

Iruka: Will your final destination be the same as the one in the Cannon?

TT Snim: I have no idea. Because Cannon is still going I have no idea how it's going to end. I think I have my own ending forming in my head. Or at least one ending that I could come too. We all Know Naruto's goal is to become Hokage. It's like an episode of Parry Mason. We all know he's going to win the case... it's HOW he wins the case that's interesting.

Iruka: That's true.

TT Snim: I just want to exploit every thing that wasn't exploited like it should have been from the beginning.

Iruka: I want to come back to the tailed beasts. Because they are a central part of Naruto ad the Jinchuriki will you be paying them any special attention?

TT Snim: Yes! In fact more then the Jinchuriki them selves in the long run. A number of them get make overs as well. The Slug and the sea horse are top on my list. I hate how that horse looks. Hate it. And poor Han, the horse's Jinchuriki. He's never even given his own _filler_ arc in the Anime. I'm going to do a lot with them. But I can't tell you what yet.

Iruka: I'm sure it will be an interesting read.

TT Snim: I hope so. Any more questions?

Iruka: Just one. Why are you undertaking this project?

TT Snim: The same reason any one takes on a project like this. I'm a fan girl with way the hell to much time on my hands!

Iruka: DO you have a life other than this?

TT Snim: Yeah, I have a small job, I live on my own. I'm writing my own original book. But this is my biggest project right now.

Iruka: Well thanks for answering every thing. Thnaks for coming. . .

TT Snim: *TT Snim is grabbed by two large men* . . .Hey this is my. . .

Iruka/Fuka: We thank you, the audience, for joining us in this interview special. We hope you enjoy Part Two. . .

TT Snim: *Being removed from the stage by security* You can't do this to me! I AM THE AUTHOR!

Iruka/Fuka: Please check in regularly for updates!

*Band starts playing **Naruto Shippūden Opening 1**. the Audience stands up and starts dancing in the isles. Iruka lets his hair down and gives a wicked grin*

Fuka: And remember folks, Evil is a matter of perspective!

*Music plays as the scene fades*


	16. Pt 2: Leaves Chp 15: To Kill Or

Welcome to the first chapter of Part Two! I could go on and on about this chapter, about how LONG it is (34 pages! 15k words! YIKES), or about how I _**RUSHED**_ to get this up so the mistakes will be really bad in it! But I opted to try and have a regular update rather than a perfect one. It'll all get fixed eventually, so don't worry! ^_^ (Nervious laugh about how bad every thing will probably be).

I do want to say that I wrote ALL OF chapter 16 BEFORE I got half way through THIS chapter, chapter 15. WHY? Because originally 16 and 15 were going to be the SAME chapter! When I ripped them apart it damaged 16, so you'll have to wait at least a week before I can fix that one up and post it. But I wanted you to know that I'm excited to get this new phase going, and I have a lot of content coming down the pipe! (Note: had i kept both 15 and 16 the same chapter this update would have been over 60 pages long)

I also wanted to thank you on your kind feed back for the little interview chapter I posted. But I have to ask... what in the world makes you think any of those hints were _true_? *Evil laugh*

(_Once more I have had trouble with the flash back parts, let me know if it's to hard to follow, I'll try and make it more clear for you_.)

EDIT: Wow, OK, this chapter was a disaster! I left personal plot notes in! ARRRRG! I have them out now, I'm sorry, that was sloppy of me. Please forgive me. *Sad face* I'l be more careful next time!

* * *

Part Two: Leaves

Chapter 15: Shattered

…...

Kakashi sat, numb and dizzy, clutching the dirty blue blood satined head band. He took a shuddering breath and tried to absorb it's implications.

_Blond hair and soft, soft, blue eyes looked down at him. "Kakashi..."_

"_Sensei." He could hardly breath. He felt like he was going to die._

"_I'm sorry I wasn't there in time." _

_Obito. . ._

". . . Naruto."

He could hardly breath. He felt like he was going to throw up.

To much, he'd eaten to much to soon. He could taste that vile grape juice in the back of his throat. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. The room was starting to spin in a lopsided, lurching sort of way, making it increasingly more and more difficult to keep his body in tight discipline. He'd been trained to force him self to calm almost any involuntary reaction, or to induce it if he had to. He could stop being nauseous if he really tried.

_He wanted to know he could protect someone and never lose them. He wanted to have just one person who would always be there, no matter what._

Tenzo stood, unsteadily, by his side. "Kakashi Sempai." He started to reach out but Kakashi stopped him with a cold glare.

He wanted to tell him to leave, but he didn't trust the words would be all that came out. The look was enough, however, Tenzo took a hasty step back. Kakashi wanted nothing more than for the loathsome man to wither away. To burn up from the inside out.

Like he felt he was. He swallowed again.

"Rejoin Shizune, Captain Yamato. She'll take you to continue your treatment." Tsunade's voice was flat and dry, yet full of venom.

Kakashi watched through grimy silver strands of shivering hair as the man walked out of the room. Just nearly past the door jam he hesitated. "I know you will never forgive me, Hatake-sempai. I can live with that, because I know I don't deserve it." The door shut with such a hollow clatter of finality that Kakashi winced away from it.

Useless, these fleeting involuntary responses. The door could not hurt him. The sound of the door could not hurt him. He closed his eyes again. He could will him self to be calm, he'd trained for it. He'd been ANBU. There was nothing physically wrong with him. All he had to do was take a deep breath, force his body to do as he commanded, force him self to be as he needed to be.

He shifted, wanting to straighten up, but froze when his stomach gave a low warning growl.

"_Kakashi-sensei." Naruto's voice was quiet and tinted with gentle reproof. He felt warm fingers wrap around his own trembling shoulders and guide him back to bed._

_"Naruto." He forced a smile despite the lingering pain. "This is a surprise . . . you should be asleep."_

_Naruto slowly let go of the throbbing shoulder and stepped back. "So should you."_

Every thing hurt. Just like it had hurt before. Maybe he'd never actually stopped hurting. Pain laced it's way down his back and settled in his stomach like fire in a kiln. Still clinging to the head band he wrapped his arms around his thin mid section and tried not to moan. His stomach was churning, _**burning**_. He felt as if his body was rotting from the inside out.

_"Please... Please don't let me dream... because I know what I'll find..."_

_"You won't dream tonight. I promise." He'd keep it. He had to._

_He could believe in the dreams and hopes of Naruto and one day that elusive goal of saving just one person may be within his reach._

Naruto was never going to have another nightmare, but Kakashi knew, _KNEW_, he would. He'd never get those soft, soft, blue eyes out of his mind. Apologizing, _pleading_.

"_I'm sorry I wasn't there in time." _

His stomach lurched so violently he had to swallow hard to press back the surge of bile. He felt like he was dissolving from the in side out. This time he was helpless to stop the whimper that escaped his lips. Useless. Utterly useless.

Tsunade's voice gave sounded a warning. "Jiraya . . ."

"I know!"

There was a sudden flurry of motion beside him and in an instant the Sage Sanin was shoving a waist can between Kakashi's shaking knees. It was all he could do to rip the mask down fast enough to accommodate his revolting stomach.

…...

Fuka tucked the folder in to a shelf and stuffed the photograph of Naruto in to his vest pocket. The information it all conveyed was beyond what one could rightly ignore. The whole of the village, no, the world, hinged on what was in side. Only the right ninja could be privy to the intelligence there in, and those ninja had to be of the right kind. There could be no weak or wavering near the jinchuriki now.

The Copy Cat ninja was certainly weak at this time.

Choosing a way to kill Kakashi was going to be the most critical of tests. There were no sure methods, no class room lessons, on how to kill a legend. It would have to be done very carefully, and with as little tractable evidence as possible.

Facts must be considered here. Kakashi was in the hospital and would probably be there for many more days. After all, only three nights before, he'd been on the very edge of death. His systems had to be extremely feeble now, including his over taxed chackra cells. Poisons in the body had to be building up still, especially if he was trying to get his energy back up quickly.

Poison. Fuka smiled.

Not just any poison, he would have to mix his own to simulate the conditions of a body going in to toxic shock. With Sakura out on a mission there was no one who could counter the effects of such a thing. Artificial or not.

Closing his eyes ever so brifly he searched his mind for the ingredients needed to make the potion. Iruka had read every report coming in for the last seven years. There would be plenty of classified recipes for just such a concoction. The memories were hazy, blocked.

Iruka was fighting him.

"Don't be a hero, Umino sensei. This is for the good of the village. All of that Demon power shouldn't be waisted on people who don't care for him, should it?"

He caught his reflection in the window glass. Iruka slammed his fist in to the pane. "Hatake is my last choice for Naruto, true, but killing him won't solve the problem!"

Fuka fingered the file under his arm. "Oh but Iruka-san, You just don't get it. Hatake has the Sharingan. With that he can control Naruto, force him to do what ever _he_ thinks in necessary to protect the village. His ninja way is to protect, yet. . ."

Iruka's fist went lax. "Yet he lost his entire former team. And Sauske." Glaring Iruka pressed against the glass. "But I won't let you kill him."

"You don't have a choice, do you?"

"I will find a way out!" he slammed his fists in to the glass again. "You leave Naruto's team alone!"

Fuka rocked back on his heals as he watched the transparent apparition beat the window pane. Though it looked violent, the clear material made no sound. "When Naruto does return, Umino-san, he's going to need so much comfort. I wonder if he'll be looking for your ghost when he sees me." He grinned. "Or if he'll be to stricken to notice who's here now."

He turned, pleased, and walked away from where Iruka was left staring after him.

"I won't let you do this! I WILL find a way to stop you!"

"We'll see."

…...

Tsunade watched as the legendary Copy Cat Ninja withered before her. She leaned against the wall she'd previously thrown Jiraya in to only two days before. There were still cracks in the plaster. Her nails bit in to the cracks and scratched up as her fists clenched.

_"Kakashi said while he's having the nightmares the fox's chakra leaks out through Naruto's. That's what Kakashi was doing that put him in to shock, he used the sharengan to try and suppress the chakra. You know as well as I do how well that worked out for our Copy Cat Brat."_

_She bit her thumb nail and took a breath as the information settled. "We have to call him back. From that mission."_

_"I know."_

"You should have been honest!" She could hear her self hissing her words. Anger burned in her chest while her fingers felt numb and cold. "You should have told me he was having those danmed nightmares. I would have never sent him!"

Kakashi looked from the rim of the waist can. His eyes rolled up to Jiraya and peered through limp dirty silver hair. "You _told_ her?" He shuddered, his eyes betrayed his anguish. "You _promised_." It was a half wail, grief and pain, like a child who'd been kicked.

"Sorry Kiddo." The distress in Jiraya's voice was palatable. "She's the boss."

Kakashi stared, wounded and betrayed, before turning his attention back to her. He was shaking almost violently and the gifted eye, tinted with a fare amount of red now, was tearing up to over flowing. His natural eye remained dry, but no less bereft. "The boss." His eyes darkened. "She tried to_ kill _me."

_"What did he say?"_

_Jiraya hesitated for a moment as he rubbed his palms together. "Well, You see, I promised him I wouldn't tell. . ." He flashed a catty grin._

_"Spill it."_

_He hesitated for a moment before sighing, looking serious. "He's going to hate me for this."_

_"If it can help keep Naruto safe then we'll deal with Hatake Kakashi's _feelings_ latter on."_

It had been to little to late. The legendary Copy Cat had held his secrets for two long. bBut why? Why hadn't he trusted her?

"You fool." She clutched at the broken plaster behind her. Clutched the gem hanging from her neck. "It's your own fault, you needed to be honest with me from the start!"

"You would have locked him up!" He snapped. Anger flared, forcing his maskless face to contort in ugly rage. "Hasn't he suffered enough? He has been cut of from people his whole life!" He shuddered again. "But that isn't important now that. . . that. . ." And at that he lost what ever restraint on his feelings he'd been clinging to. Silent sobs erupted up and he buried his head in his arms. While he was shaking with out restraint not a sound escaped him.

It didn't last long.

After only a moment he took a deep ragged breath before slipping his mask back up. With the black cloth came a stony coldness to his countenance. He was falling back on his training, reverting to an ANBU agent.

He was once more a weapon, no longer a teacher.

"You want to know if I killed a woman named Rin." There was no tone in his voice, no emotion. He closed his still damp eyes and took another breath. This one was smooth, the air passing cleanly through his throat. He turned to her and gazed at her with dark, dark, eyes. "Fine. I'll tell you _everything_."

…...

Guy leaned against the window sill and watched as Lee struck out against Shino. The strike was blocked with skill as the taller teen brought his arms to cross between them. Lee bounced back a foot or two, his body a lithe construct of spry muscles and supple bones, and kicked. Shino grabbed the foot and gave the green clad teen a hearty toss. Lee flew in to the trees near by, but bounded back even more determined, his youthful energy radiating off of him like a halo of light.

The sparing match had started as soon as Neji had fallen asleep, and had been going on for quite a while. Niter of the teens showed any signs of slowing down or tiering. From behind him Guy could hear Ten ten dutifully sharpening her weapons. She was sitting next to Neji, ready to spring in to action should she be needed.

Neji him self, having been truly and fully exhausted, was deeply asleep, and would probably be so for several hours, if not the rest of the day. Guy pulled him self away from the sparing match and walked up to his two students. TenTen smiled up at him, happy and strong.

"He's going to be so ticked off when he waked up!" She grinned. "He'll be angry for a month at us for making him take those bugs."

Guy chuckled. The important thing was he'd wake up to BE mad. "I'm sure his youthful spirit will find it reasonable to forgive us this time."

"Yeah, sure he will." She turned back to her shuriken and continued polishing them.

Had not Kurenai's student's shown up. . . Guy forced him self not to think of it. He owed them, both Shino and Hinata, for helping. They had risked them selves and their lives to be here. With out orders to leave the village under the circumstances they were missing nin.

All of them.

The frown found it's way to his face any way. "Do you know where Hinata is?"

TenTen shook her head. "All I know is Lee told her she could go any where but the Dojo." She tossed the metal star to the side and picked up another one. "After Neji fell asleep she just sort of vanished." She polished for a moment before looking up again. "Why?"

Guy snapped a smile back up. "I'd just like to talk to her."

"Oh, well, I'm sorry I don't know where she is."

"I'll find her." He steped away from them, from his charges, from the 'almost dead' and the 'nearly gone' moments. He had to speak with the Hyuga princes. Her coming here could only endanger her position in the clan. Guy had ignored Neji every time he'd spoken of his people, of the way they treated the branch families. Of the way the Main Branch lorded over the 'lesser' members with iron fists and cold in difference. Guy had brushed off the story of the death of Neji's father, even when Neji had nearly been crushed in the chunin exams.

He couldn't ignore it any longer.

The sun light was filtering in through the windows, casting paths in the dust, like pillars to heaven. He found Hinata kneeling in an empty bedroom, her hair catching all of the soft golden light, trapping it in it's dark strands. A fallen angel in the room of a long forgotten fallen warrior.

"Princess?"

She startled a little, but did not turn to him. "Forgive me I. . ." She stopped short, not knowing what more to say. "I hope I haven't acted recklessly" She finally said.

"Your actions have been nothing but exemplary." He knelt down next to her. From the corner of his eyes he could see her face, still so very young, yet etched with a worry that should only be worn by the old wrinkled elders while sitting and stewing over the fate of the world.

"My actions have been nothing of the sort." She dipped her head. "This is may fault."

"In your youtful passion, you were defending your heart's true love." He smiled. Such a wonderful will of fire, if only a little miss directed. She had never meant to hurt any one. "You have done no wrong, if Neji forgives you then. . ."

"Violence is not acceptable with in my clan, Might-sensei." She looked up out the window, her face tight. "I may well have to face excommunication, or worse."

To belong to a clan was a safe thing, and to be a part of a clan, then thrust out, was nearly death, especially for one who wished only to please, as Hinata did. Guy wasn't sure he could stand the thought of 'or worse' but he was done with running. "What more could they do to you?"

"They could brand me as a branch member or. . ." She closed her eyes and dropped her head. "With out Shino's intervention My actions could well have caused the death of a clan member. Murder is not acceptable with in our ranks. Not even by a member of the main family. Should he have died my life would have been required to pay for his."

Guy looked away from her soft face. "They would execute you?"

"They still may, though life for life is not so prevalent now after the death of uncle Hizashi was exicuted." She dipped her head low. "With Kuranai-sensi no longer in charge of the team she would not be able to protect me from what ever they decide to do to me."

Guy was to utterly struck to speak. To think a clan would end the life of their own princess, the kind and ever gentle princess Hinata was. . . and to think Hiashi would allow it. . .

_Guy tried to fight, but his limbs were limp. The two Hyuga guards started to drag him out. More anger rushed him and he managed to growl, chasing the numb from his mouth. "If you so much as touch Neji I'll. . ."_

_"You have no power against even a single Hyuga." Hiashi turned his back and stepped up to the bed. Guy fought again, but was still to numb to move. As he was pulled to the door another man loomed before him._

_With long blond hair in a tight pony tail and cold steel blue eyes, Inoichi Yamanaka looked like the reaper of death him self. Guy was far to stunned from the sight of this mind reader to even form a protest. He was pilled out of the room completely. As the door swung shut he could hear the cold words of the head Hyuga floating out._

_"Search him throughly. Discover his motives and if he or my eldest daughter pose a threat to Hanabi." The door closed with a sickening finality._

He balled his fists up, tight, and scowled. "He's already chosen your sister as the next in line for clan head, hasn't he?"

She nodded, once.

It made scene, in a shallow sort of way, the whole clan was hard wired, even against their will, to protect the clan head and it's family. Even if that meant protecting the head FROM it's family. Because they were a clan, separate and distinct, they had immunity from the Hokage's orders and authority so long as their conflict did not endanger the village. Should Hiashi chose to execute Hinata, or even Neji, no one in the village would be able to stop him.

"I'm sure to preserve the peace between our clan and the rest of the village I will not be harmed bodily." She said, as if reading his thoughts. "I will only be branded in to service."

Service was a word Guy did not trust here. Service meant the person rendering the acts was a servant. Servant meant they had an agreement and compensation. Here the Hyuga branch members had no choice, no freedom.

Service should have been, and would ever from hence forth in his mind, be replaced with the word slavery.

"I won't allow it!" He said, but could not strike a pose. Not even youth could prevail against this alone. There had to be cunning and, yes, age. Guy had burried his head in the sand for so very long. . . so long. . . it was a shame death and slavery had to rip his mind from the joy of innocence and childhood to this abhorrence! He shuddered, disgusted, and turned to Hinata. "You will be on my team now until Kurenai-sensei has recovered!"

The soft gray eyes widened. "Wh-what?"

"I will protect you and Neji! You will NOT be cast as slaves by your father. Nore will he bring the Inochi bastard to your minds ever again!"

"Inochi!" She blinked, stunned. "What are you talking about?"

His eyes darkened, how could she not know? Then again they had come in the night, like thieves. "Your father brought Inoichi Yamanaka in to Neji's room and they stripped his mind for information."

Her mouth dropped open. "That. . . that is not in our rules! If they want the truth they- they ASK!" Her face lost it's color and she pulled away. "Father. . ." She shivered. "We don't. . . we don't DO that sort of thing to our own people! It's horrible, a raping of the mind. We would never allow a Yamanaka to search a clan member!" She looked back up at him, eyes large and frightened. "Never!"

A cold, terrible, fear settled in to Guy's bones. "You mean he was not acting as a clan member then?"

She shook her head.

"_She didn't mean to!" Neji cut him off. "I told her not to. . . not to love Naruto. Some thing is strange about him. I saw his chakra. . .Some thing h-happened to him on our last mission. He's not. . . safe. . ." _

"Naruto!" He stood then, his heart trembling like liquid in side of a bird cage of thin, hollow, ribs. "Neji said some thing was strange about him!" He pulled her up by the shoulders. "Tell me, what did he tell you about Naruto?"

She started, frightened, and stammered. "That. . . that he has a strange chakra, but Neji didn't tell me WHY it was strange. I struck him before he could rightly explain it."

Guy let her go and stepped back. Neji was out cold and needed rest, and Hinata did not know. The others, Inoichi and Hiashi, he didn't trust them. "Some thing is not right here."

She stared up at him, looking lost and small. Her youth was being sucked from her marrow, her body drained of it's innocent essence. Guy could not stand the sight of it. What was more he could not stand the thought that some one was after Naruto for reasons he did not understand.

He was right to flee, there was danger in the dark, but he may have been to late. "Listen to me, Hinata, I'm going back to the village. You must stay here and hide. All of you. Whn I know more I will return for you all."

"But. . ."

"This isn't for you only, it's for Naruto."

The fear in her eyes faded and a flicker of the will of fire returned. "For Naruto I will hide forever."

He smiled, beyond pleased to see the light of her young soul returning. "Very good, do NOT loose that passion!"

…...

"I was on a C ranked mission to Mist, to deliver a message to a spy there." Kakashi spoke flatly, with out inflection or emotion. He was reporting, orating. He was distanced from the memories now, the killer, the ANBU.

Because if he wasn't ANBU he'd loose it.

He'd already lost it. All of it. All over again. He would never be able to keep it all. . .

ANBU don't feel pain.

"I was returning when I caught the smell of death."

Tsunade was listening, taking in every word. Both hands were down, red nails were clawing at the wall behind her. She looked like a trapped animal.

"I change course to investigate."

"So the people were all dead when you arrived?" She asked, allowing her self to be pulled in from the present, to the past.

"Yes." he replied. "Men, women, and children, they were all dead." The memories started to swirl in his mind. "Except for one."

oooOOOooo

He walked through the town, eying the bodies that had been laying in tangled heaps for many days. The stench was overwhelming.

The villagers had been rounded up and slaughtered whole sale, then the killers had gutted them selves. All of them were sand Shinobi. Mass suicide/homicide. He stepped around a corner as saw a man kneeling in front of a dozen dead children. Each had been killed with expert skill. Kakashi knelt next to the kneeling man, who he quickly saw had killed him self as well. His face looked soft and young, like Konoha's Umino Iruka. He'd been their teacher.

Standing again he continued to look around. Doors had been barricaded from the inside. Communication towers had been demolished. Radios had been smashed. Even the messenger fowl had been killed. The town had self destructed in a mass of violence. There was no one left alive on the street.

Then, a flash of movement from above, drew his eyes. With auburn hair and cool brown eyes a woman looked down at him and grinned. Her ethereal form shimmered in the fading day light. He blinked, to stunned to move, or speak. It had to be a trick of light, a genjitsu, a ghost.

"Kakashi?"

". . . _Rin_. . ."

oooOOOooo

"I'm sure you received the report of the incident. You know how the villagers killed them selves, read about the team mates who turned on each other, about how every means of out side communication was destroyed. You had to have been given the official report." He leveled his eyes against her's. "You should have been informed of all that had been found there by ANBU already."

"I was not given any thing more than a report that you were discovered just out side of a village that had been massacred. And that you were next to the body of your own team mate." Her reply was cold, clipped, and firm. "Did you kill her or didn't you?"

Kakashi nodded once. "I killed her." He stared, uncaring. It was to late to care. "But it was in self defense."

oooOOOooo

The woman smiled warmly. So warmly. "I never thought I'd see you again!"

Kakashi still couldn't move. It was as if his body had simply frozen solid while his heart throbbed in strange, irregular, patters with in his chest. She descended, hung in the air like an angel, the light catching every strand of hair. Her feet didn't seem to make a sound as she landed in the soft golden sand. She ran, arms open, and then she was around him.

"Kakashi." She buried her face in his neck and sighed, deeply.

"You are supposed to be dead." He managed.

She stiffened, her liquid body become hard like stone. "So you aren't a member of the recovery team then?"

"N-no." He wanted to wrap his arms around her. She had to be a genjitsu.

Her head straightened back up. "Why are you here?"

". . .I. . ."

She frowned and pulled away. "You weren't ordered to come and assist me?"

"No. I thought you were. . . how did you. . .?" She still had soft fawn brown eyes, brown like the forest after rain. They were looking up, searching. "Rin." he wanted to touch her face, trace the violet patches on her cheeks.

He pinned his arms to his sides and stared. The wind blew and the wretched sent of death floated between them. "Rin. Is that you?" He didn't believe this ethereal vision. He refused to acknowledge the heat melting off her body and soaking in to his.

"It's me." She said with a small nod and a gentle smile. "It's really me."

oooOOOooo

…...

Kiba pressed hard, pushing Akamaru as fast as he would go, back to the village. Asuma was right behind them, urging them on. Just behind him were the rest of the team.

Umino Iruka, teacher, paper work Ninja. His sent had been like mold, a strange aggravation that felt like rot in the nose. There could be no other truth than the kindly smiling quiet school teacher had killed two men and buried the bodies.

The bodies were gone now, taken with out a trace, Kiba didn't know what to make of that. What he did know was that the whole of the village was in danger if that sort of raw power and knowledge was used for the wrong reasons.

"Akamaru, we can't let Konoha down!"

The dog barked from under him and pushed him self on faster. To help speed the run up Kiba dismounted and ran along side. With fresh energy on his part, and the lighter load for Akamaru, they doubled their speed.

Asuma and his team pressed hard to keep up, managing on the knowledge that they may already be to late.

"We'll get him, Kiba, we'll get him for sure!"

The dog barked in firm agreement.

They were closer to the village now, the walls just visible through the trees. Some where bhind him he heard one of the other stumble.

"Shikamaru!" Choji called. Kiba snorted. Waisted time being lazy had made the Nara teen soft. He glanced behind quickly to check on the rest of the team. Asuma waved him on.

"He'll catch up."

Kiba nodded. Lazy. He snorted and refocused on the village. With Akamaru at his side he felt like their energy was shared. If one started to falter the other could lend strength. Briefly he wondered if Shikamaru and Choji were like that, but the thought vanished when the gates came in to view.

Right away he noticed Izumo and Kotetsu were missing. Two younger gate men were watching.

"Let us through!" Kiba snapped. The two men, hardly older than him self, yelped and jumped back. They did not forbid him or his hound. Asuma was right behind him and together the three of them hurried on, towards the Hokage tower.

They would have Iruka in custody before linch. Of this Kiba was sure.

"Lets catch him, Akamaru!"

Once more the dog barked in agreement.

…...

"So you two were alone?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes, we were."

oooOOOooo

He stared at her, unbelieving, until she reached out and touched his cheek.

"Still trapped in the mash, huh? You have really got to learn to let go, Kakashi."

"What are you doing here?" He asked, his skin crawled all over as she stroked him.

"I'm on a mission."

"Mission?"

"Mmm-hmm." She fingered the edge of the black fabric. Her own cheek markings turned a slightly deeper shade of purple as she worked her nails under the seam. "I'm ANBU now."

"That's not possible." He wanted to back away, but her fingers. . . "I was in ANBU for years. I never saw you. . . I. . ."

She was pulling the edge of the mask down. Her nails skimming his lips.

". . .I. . ."

Her eyes looked up in to his. They were deep pools, shimmering, inviting. He pulled away and leaped back.

"You are a member of ROOT." She had to be, that's the only way any of this made sense.

"I am." She started to walk towards him, red nails reaching. He couldn't move, he couldn't breath. "Your not supposed to be here."

"I know." He stepped back again. "But neither are you."

Her fingers again made contact. Like daggers, "I was dead, Kakashi. **He** revived me."

Kakashi tried not to lean in to her soft touch, tried not to let her body heat filter through his mask. His skin crawled again as she stroked his hair line.

"Who?"

He liked it.

"I can't tell you." The mask was being pulled down by one hand, the other was slipping under his vest.

He felt dizzy. Reaching up he pulled her hand off of his chest, but could not bring him self to pull her fingers out of his mask. ". . ._Don't_. . ."

She lingered there, for a long moment, still toying with the barrier that kept them separate, before stepping back and dissolving in a cloud of smoke and mist. Her voice floated on the wind. "Go home Kakashi, the Rin you knew is dead."

He stood, gasping in the horrible smell of the dead, wilting under the sun's heat. Slowly, with shaking fingers, he reached up to where her hand had been.

This time. He wasn't going to loose her this time._ "__**RIN**__!"_

oooOOOooo

…...

The atmosphere at the medical ward was charged and dark as Fuka entered. Sullen faces shied away from him and people whispered as he passed. Frowning slightly he turned in to the hall that would lead him to Shizune's office. There two medical ninja's spotted him and bowed low.

"Umino san." The female said. She sounded near tears.

"Is some thing the matter?"

"You don't know?" She glanced at her partner before bowing again. "It isn't my place to speak. Forgive me."

They hurried away.

Fuka watched after them for a moment. When they were gone he turned to knock, and caught Iruka looking at him from the glass over a fire hose.

"Some thing isn't right."

Fuka snapped his head away and knocked. It took a moment for the door to pen, but when it did he was greeted by Shizune wiping away tears. "Iruka." She sniffed and beconed him in side. "I'm sorry, sorry."

He reached out and took her by the shoulders. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She shook her head and, with out much warning, clung to him. His frown deepened and he wrapped his arms around her. "Shh, tell me what's happened. Every one here is so sad."

"It's Naruto." She took a deep breath and pulled back. "Please sit down."

Fuka stepped back and found a chair with the back of his knees. He sat, never taking his eyes off of her. She stepped up to her desk and leaned against it with one hand, her face a wash of anguish and dread.

"What about Naruto?" Some thing like fear tugged at his heart. Iruka.

She took a moment to gather her self before she turned to him. Taking a deep breath she shook her head, trying to clear it. "As you know he went on a mission to intercept a spy associated with Orochimaru."

"Yes, I know." Fuka felt the fear in the back of his mind intensify. He ignored it flatly. "Did some thing happen?" He could almost feel the photograph in his pocket.

"The Spy was Kabuto. They . . . they fought him."

Fuka felt his frown level out. "Is Naruto all right?"

She took another breath, it shook in her throat. "Captain Yamato, a man assigned to the Team temporarily, has reported that Naruto was killed."

Fuka sat back in the chair and let the news settle in. "He's dead?" The fear shifted in to some thing much, much deeper. A silent sob echoed in the back of his mind. It was a heavy feeling, washing through him like the echo of a flood. Distant, yet internal. He floated above it.

"Iruka I'm so sorry. I know how much he meant to you." She sank down to her own chair and propped her head up with one hand. "He meant a lot to all of us."

Fuka reached in to his pocket and pulled the photo out with out thinking. "Was his body returned?"

She shook her head. "Both his body, and the Body of Sakura, were captured by Orochimaru."

He was grinning so hard in the photograph, like he didn't have a care in the world.

"_I won't let you go home until you clean all of it." Iruka growled, looking at how the stone faces had been defiled._

_Sullenly Naruto looked up at him, eyes angry and defient. "Like I care... It's not like I have anyone to go home to."_

"You are sure?"

She nodded. "I was witness to the first hand report. Captain Yamato brought his headband and Tsunade Sama's necklace back."

_He grinned and struck a pose. "One day I'm going to be the next Hokage... AND THEN I'M GOING TO SURPASS ALL PREVIOUS HOKAGES!"_

Fuka looked up from the photo. The weight of the emotions roaring in the back of his mind were oppressive and suffocating. He took a deep breath. "He really was some thing else." A throb started up at his temple, strong enough to send his hand involuntarily up to rub it.

"He spoke of you a lot." She was looking up, tears still streaming down her face. "He thought of you as a father. He didn't say it, but we all knew."

Fuka sank back, rubbing futilely at the pain. "A father."

"_Don't touch Iruka-sensei... or I'LL KILL YOU!"_

Naruto had surpassed all of the other students that had ever stumbled through the academy doors. He'd managed in just one week to steel a forbidden scroll from the Third Hokage, master it's most advanced technique, and fight off a full grown adult. All with out the aid of the fox sealed with in him.

It was a tremendous loss.

"Did we learn where Orochimaru's base is?" He asked. He was surprised at how thick his voice was.

"No. The mission to gather intelligence was a total failure."

He looked up at her, away from the smiling blond in the picture, and kept his mind abofe the greif crashing through him. "Will you allow me to arrange the funeral?"

She nodded. "I thought you would ask. I'll help, of course, as a representative of the Hokage."

"Thank you."

"Of course."

A long moment of silence followed where all Fuka could do was hold tight against the feelings raging in side of him. They were close, but he remained just out of reach. He shoved it away, far as he could, back to Iruka. Just as he was clearing his mind, however, Shizune broke down in to heavy sobs.

They were wet, gut wrenching, sobs that wracked her body and caused her shoulders to shake like palsy. She dropped her head to her desk over folded arms and let them flow. Fuka stood, shoved the photo back in to the vest pocket, and crossed the distance between them. Carefully he lifted her and pulled her close.

"He died a hero."

She nodded against him. Stroking her hair he sighed. This changed things drastically. He let his eyes wander as he tried to reformulate his plans. While nothing was coming to him immediately he spotted a box on the far shelf. It was one of the ingredients he needed for the perfect poison.

A thin smile spread as he realized Iruka had stopped fighting him the moment the news had settled. Fuka rummaged through the now open memories and pulled out every item he would need. His eyes widened a little as he realized almost all of it was here in the room.

Maybe he didn't have to change plans yet. While Naruto was no longer an issue Kakashi could still become a hindrance if he recovered. He still needed to be eliminated.

"Why don't you take a brake?" He asked softly. "I can take any callers for you for the next ten minutes."

She looked up at him. "How can you be so calm?" It wasn't an accusation, she wanted to know honestly how he could be keeping it all together.

"Work calms me." It wasn't a lie.

"Iruka. . ."

He wiped her cheek dry. "I just need ten minutes to my self. _Please_." He let just a touch of all that grief wash out in the words.

She studied him for a moment, then nodded. "OK." She pulled back and reached for a box of tissues. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Thank you."

Once she left Fuka sank down in to her chair. Many things on her desk were reflective but non of them showed Iruka's face.

…...

oooOOOooo

Kakashi activated the Sharingan and took off. Though gory streets and blood soaked ally ways, up red stained walls and down quaint body strewn yards. . . Her sent was every where. She wasn't any where. He couldn't see her.

"You have a choice, Kakashi." Her voice floated over him like a memory whispered from deep with in. "You can choose to come with me, or go back to the village."

Obito's eye would not help him kill her. Reaching up he taped the mask over the eye. 'Life isn't fair, is it?' He asked silently. It stung, as if wounded. He pulled him self up and closed his eyes. She wasn't **an** enemy, she was _**the**_ enemy.

A heavy truth, even for an ANBU. He tapped the mask again. '_Her or the village, Obito, her or the village_.' He thought dryly.

"You can walk away."

"I'm not leaving you here." He scanned the roof tops. "I'm not loosing you again."

"You can't take me back. You have the Jinchuriki as your student. He'll need protection from this world."

"He's got all the protection he needs, he has the legendary Sanin watching over him."

"He needs your sharingan." Hair filled his vision, her face came in to view, he looked up. She was hanging from the eves above him.

His sharingan was useless here, it couldn't track her. He felt blind and handicapped. All to harsh was the reality that with out Obito's gift he'd be out classed in nearly ever battle he'd fought in. Here. . . with her. . .

For a long moment he couldn't move. His fingers clutched at the plaster behind him, clinging, scratching. She reached out and stroked his cheek again. Her hands were soft. He wanted to lean in to her touch. She couldn't be real.

"It's me or the village." She slid her fingers down his chin. The light touch sent wave after wave of shivers down his spine.

"Are you threatening my student?" Even as he reveled in the feeling if her hand gliding back up his jaw his heart sank. This couldn't be Rin.

She'd been killed when the Fox had attacked the village, supposedly while trying to save Kushina. The Third Hokage had recounted finding their bodies him self, along with the infant Naruto.

She dropped down to his level and looked at him through her now messy auburn hair. "I'm warning you. There are a lot of bad people out there." Once more her hands found their way in to his vest. They tugged his shirt up and she slid her finger tips over his bare stomach. Her fingers war warm and soft. Her skin was like velvet.

She wasn't real. But for a moment he would indulge in this fantasy while it was still nice. Maybe he could deduce who this really was and what they wanted.

"Bad people?" He asked. She smiled and pulled his shirt up a little more.

"A lot of very bad people. You should go home. Forget you ever saw me. Forget that this Rin is alive. Forget about all the bad people."

This time he couldn't bring him self to pull her hands away. He sucked in a breath when her nails glided nearly up to his throat. "Are you one of those bad people?"

She set her head against his now exposed chest. "I missed you."

"That's not an answer to my question. Are you a danger to the village?" He closed his eyes against the sun, it was bright and near the horizon and warm. The sky was changing from clear azure blue to a hazy blood red. She smelled like Rin. Smelled like the girl he used to know. He wanted to. . .

She shifted and he looked down at her. She couldn't really be there, touching him. Her fingers found the black fabric on his mask once more. "After I left I thought about coming back for you. But I know. . ." She let the sentence die.

"Know what?"

"I know you and I could never see eye to eye." She reached up and ran her finger over the scar of his eye. "Tell Obito that I'm sorry. OK? I never meant to hurt you."

"Tell him. . ." With a wash of unease he realized the only one who ever knew he talked to Obito was her. "It is you." The sentence was every thing he'd been afraid to utter. He had been away from the village when it had been attacked. He'd been unable to protect her. But here she was.

She stroked the scar again. "Do you miss us?"

He did.

"I don't want to fight you. Please, don't make me fight you."

oooOOOooo

…...

Guy searched the old dusty house, looking for any thing that may be of use to his new quest. With out his team he was on a one man mission. A mission he had asigned him self, for his own unconfirmed fears, based on little more than clan politics from clans he was not a member of.

All to save a student that was not his.

To save the village FROM the student.

He grimaced and opened the door to Kakashi's personal room. Books littered the shelves almost haphazardly. Each held the title of one of the few 'come come paradise' books. Guy picked one up and thumbed through it. It wasn't one of Jiraya's poorly written works, but a book on battle tactics. It was the same size and shape as the novel and there for fit the dust cover perfectly.

A mask for a book, added by a man who never took his own mask off.

In all of his life he'd watched the lithe silver haired ninja fight and scrape by on little more than luck and the gifted eye, and all of his life Guy had held darkly the secret of his eternal rival. Unlike Guy the Copy Cat Ninja had never been youthful. He'd hid, a mask of indifference, the shutting off of friends who could try to read him.

Like a friend who would see the real title of a book if it weren't for the dust cover. Guy set the book back down.

Guy had promised to protect Naruto with every thing he had, even before he'd known just how serous all of this was. Now, like a cancer that sapped life from one's bones, he felt dread for the task at hand. He wasn't just protecting a child from nightmares, but a jinchuriki vessel from power hungry dictators and killers.

_"I want you to know that Team Ten stands behind Team Seven one hundred and one percent!" He thrust his thumb up._

_Kakashi stared for a minute. Guy expected to be dismissed, like he had been when ever he'd been so open and honest with his legendary Eternal Rival, But Kakashi dipped his head again._

_"Can you keep a secret?" He whispered. His voice was dry and hollow, he was opening that soul up right before Guy._

_Guy lowered his thumb, shocked. "Y-yes!_

_There was a long, long moment of silence before Kakashi spoke with sorrow filled eyes and deep, dark words. "The seal is weakening and he's loosing control of the fox."_

Guy would keep his word, to the very end, keep it even if it meant death! He may loose his own life, he realized sourly, as this was ore than he'd ever taken on before. Unlike the Hyuga, however, that would be his choice, not some thing thrust upon him. He believed on Naruto, believed in his power to change people's hearts. If Naruto could bring Kakashi to open up and share some thing so personally frightening, then Guy could believe the youthful blond could chance the intent of Hiashi. Naruto could make a safe world for Neji and Hinata, but not if he was dead and the fox was back.

But his own promise was two fold, he recalled bitterly, because the very real danger was that Naruto couldn't be save, else Kakashi would not have let go of such passion and fear!

_You mean we'll see _it_ loose again?" _

_"It might. I need you to do some thing for me."_

_"Any thing!" _

_Kakashi straightened. "If Naruto looses him self to the fox and attacks I want you to take Sakura and get as far from the village as you can. She'll try to save him. Do what ever you have to, for as long as you have to, to make sure she is safe."_

_"What about you?"_

_Kakashi hesitated for a long moment before smiling brightly. "No body can take on a demon, but I will save my student!" He looked so broken, so frail, so determined. "I'm going to save Naruto and that is a promise!"_

Keep his other student safe. Guy felt like he was becoming the shepherd to a lot of stray students now. He'd protect them ALL with his life! Every last one!

He promised Kakashi. Kakashi who had never been given a chance at innocence. Kakashi who's whole life had been scarred in side the sealed off Dojo. Kakashi who trusted him with the lives of his students.

"I will not fail you, my eternal rival!" He struck a pose no one could see.

…...

She was soft, warm, and so close her sent flushed away all of the rot and filth from the air around them. He wanted to pull her close. He wanted to. . ."I'll ask you one more time. Are you a threat to the Village?" He wanted to so badly. . .

"I only want to protect the village."

She was ANBU ROOT. ROOT. She was the only one standing in an enemy village that had killed it's self. She was supposed to be dead.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you here?" He sucked in a breath when she pulled away. ". . . why. . ." Why did it have to be her? He didn't know who the members of ROOT were. He had his orders, he had to capture her and take her to Ibiki. She needed to have the secrets dredged from her mind.

Ripped out and savaged. _Tortured_.

But he couldn't loose her again. His heart skipped a beat and he was afraid this was all some sort of bad dream. He needed to take her to the men who would rip out every secret she held. He needed to betray the soft smile she was giving him. He couldn't protect an enemy.

He wanted to take her in his arms and never let go.

The conflict in his mind was overpowering. He wanted her hands to stay on his body. He needed answers, but he didn't want them extracted by force. Not by the men back in the village. He couldn't, wouldn't let them touch her. Not like that.

"Kakashi, go home, please, no one has to know about me. No one has to know and I won't have to. . ." She backed away, pulling her hands with her. With a frown she slid her ANBU mask down. ". . . But you won't go, will you?" It was the Fox mask.

"I won't loose you again." He stood and pulled his own ANBU mask out. His was the mask of the Wolf.

Her hands shimmered with heat. His fingers sparked with electricity.

All he wanted to do was hold her, keep her safe, take her home. He couldn't. There was only one way, one way to keep them off of her. Keep her body away from theirs.

ANBU. Village loyalist, legendary killer Copy Cat Ninja. ANBU ROOT, member of the organization dedicated to taking over the fire country by killing the Hokage. He had to protect his village. He had to defeat the enemy.

They leaped for each other, killers. . . The Fox and the Wolf.

He struck out with as much force as he could muster. His hand landed against her chest, to fast fore her to block. The chidori screamed a thousand avian deaths and ruptured in to her vest. She threw her head back and screamed. His eye burned.

He couldn't push through, he couldn't complete the move. Sensisng his hesitation she brought her hands up. Hands ablaze, hands hissing and popping and burning to the bone and reforming. She shoved her hand against his bare flesh. There was a moment where there was no pain.

Then his world erupted in flames and agony. He dropped to his knees and was rewarded with her foot slamming in to his chin. The force sent him back several feet. He flipped before he could crash and landed on his feet on a crouch.

Still blazing she started walking towards him. Her fox mask grinning a toothy grin. Her body was enveloped in fire. There was nothing but murder in her chakra.

He coiled back, reformed Chidori, and ran again. Arm out he winced against the flare of pain from his chest and the tears forming in his gifted eye. Feet pounded the dry earth. The flicker of light danced over blood stains.

His hand found it's mark. This time he shoved in and felt her bones crack, her muscles rip apart. He felt the heat and damp of her heart throbbing against his charged fingers. She rammed up his arm, clear to the shoulder, and let her head fall against his.

"I missed you, Kakashi." Her heart quivered against his flesh, then stilled.

His doubled it's rate, ready to rupture.

…...

Each ingredient was tucked neatly in to Fuka's vest by the time Shizune had returned. She hadn't stopped crying, but she was calmer. She looked up with mournful doe eyes.

"I have to get back to work, I'm sorry." It was heart felt and deep.

Fuka stood and offered her chair back with a soft frown. "I understand." When she sat down he set his hand on her shoulder again. "Do you want me to stay here with you?"

She reached up and set her hand on his. "I should be the one comforting you." She gave his hand a squeeze and looked up. "But here you are, making sure I'm OK. What they say about you must be true."

"What do people say about me?" He asked, honestly curious. What sort of reputation did Iruka have here among the highest ranking Ninjas in Konoha?

"That out of all the shinobi, in all of Fire country, you have the biggest heart, other than Naruto's"

He smiled, just a little, though he was sure it was dry and hollow. "A big heart can't protect people. All it can do is bleed more than the other hearts."

Her face fell. "I'm sorry, Iruka, I shouldn't have told you." She gave his hand another squeeze. "You two are compared almost every day. I don't know if you know this, but every one credits you for taming Naruto from his wild ways."

Iruka had worked so hard to reach the blond. "He wasn't easy to reach. But then again, neither was I. I guess I sympathized with him."

She sniffled miserably and nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

Another stretch of silence filled the room, long and hollow, punctuated only by Shizune's sniffles. Fuka stood next to her, soothing silently, while calculating the best formula to inject Kakashi with. He'd just figured the most probable one for success when Shizune stirred under his hand.

"I really should get back to work."

"Do you have to be here long?"

She shook her head. "Another hour. I have to get some of these A ranked mission orders filled out, then I can go home after I drop them off at Tsunade's office."

He leaned a little and looked in to her sullen eyes. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

She shook her head 'no'. "I know you have the clearance, but I'm not supposed to. . . you know. . ."

He nodded. The Paper Work Ninja wasn't really supposed to exist. Out side of the office only a hand full knew of Iruka. Necessity dictated his identity not become a liability. "Then I'll be on my way."

"After work if you want. . ." She started, but cut her self off with a shake of her head. "No, never mind."

"What?" He gave her a gentle smile. "I think I'm scheduled to work at the office, but I could take the evening off, after what has happened. . ." He let the sentence trail off. From some where deep with in he felt Iruka shudder.

"I'm sorry, I just thought if you needed some one to talk to." She forced her own smile. "That is if you _need_ some one."

"Actualy, I do have plans I really can't change." His smile shifted again to a small sneer despite his efforts to look sympathetic.

"Plans?" She asked. "With some one else?"

"Yes." He let go of her and stuffed his hand in to his pocket, where he'd stashed the chemicals. "Don't worry about me, I'm going to be just fine."

…...

He had killed her. He had thrust through, chosen his village, killed his own team mate. Her head lulled back, limp. Dead. Again. Alone. Again.

He wanted to take it back, trade her places. He wanted her. . .

He had chosen his village.

He wanted her to be with him.

Her body erupted in to a shower of chirping sparks, smoke, and mist. A ratty, half rotten, corps took her place. Substitution. She was alive. He slumped to his knees.

The sun was slipping down in to the hills beyond the dead town. The whole sky was a wash of scarlet and gold. His breathing was erratic, stilted, and echoed in the hollow between his face and the mask. The mask of ANBU could not hide the sounds of his ragged emotions.

His arm was still engulfed by the body. Stiffly he pried it off and let it drop to the ground. It reeked badly. Shaking he stood and stepped away from it. He walked till the stench wasn't so bad, then kept going. Past the other bodies, past the houses, past the village. He was fleeing, he just wasn't running to do so.

If he summoned one of his dogs he could get word to Konoha, let them know about the bodies in the sand, about the rouge ninja that was supposed to be dead. He could tell them. He could lead them to her. To her and her secrets.

He leaned against a distant half withered tree.

"So you chose the village." Her body apeared out of myst and smoke, like a haunting, a fhantom. She slid her hands down his chest. He closed his eyes and realised his heart was still thundering in his ears. She could feel it, being a medical ninja, she would know how badly his heart was throbbinbg. "Kakashi."

"Why are you here?" It was difficult to keep his voice steady.

"I can't tell you my mission."

Every ROOT member that had ever been captured in the field had self destructed in a wash of flames and smoke. He would have to convince her to willingly come home, to give up ROOT. He would do any thing to help her back to the village. They could be together again. They would be whole.

It was a good lie to tell him self, that she would come with him, that she wouldn't betray him. He gripped the sand under his hands tightly. She was breathing down his neck, cheek to cheek. He wanted to lean in to her, to tell her he was sorry he hadn't been there. He wanted to tell her he would protect her this time. That she didn't have to abandon every thing she had believed in.

"I have to take you back with me." He wanted to keep her out of the hands of the men who would see her as just another body to cut apart.

"You and I both know how this works." She set her chin on his shoulder. He could feel her breach on his neck. "We aren't children any more."

No, no they weren't. "Rin. . ."

"Chose me. Please. Don't go back there. The village can't survive." She wrapped her arms around him under his vest. "They foolishly waist the jinchuriki, they waist it's power."

He swallowed hard.

"They don't know what they have, Kakashi, the gift they are waisting." Her nails dug in like claws. "They don't know what they are missing."

He reached back and took hands in his, stilling her fingers, keeping them from scratching. "Do you?"

Their eyes locked. Slowly she smiled, cold and warm and close and so very far way. "He healed me, Kakashi." Her hands shifted and took hold of his. "The Fox healed me."

"That's impossible." He said. "The fox is nothing more than a monster."

"You don't get it. I can show you. With out the hate. . . you don't know what it's like with out the hate" She nuzzled down in to his neck. "All you have to do is love, Kakashi. Love tames the beast."

He couldn't help but lean in to her hot breath. "Love. You are crazy. Some thing happened to you. Maybe you were brain washed. Genjitsu. You were supposed to be dead."

She pulled one hand free and played with his ANBU mask. He couldn't move, he couldn't pull away. Her fingers again slid under the black fabric. "I could show you."

"This village. . ." He glanced at the broken down dead settlement. "They killed each other."

"Is what hate will do to the Fox, Kakashi." She smiled. "I don't want to hate any more."

"I don't. . ." Her nails skimmed his jaw line. ". . .Don't. . ." He opened his eyes and watched as the sun dipped low, bathing every thing in it's hot rays. Her other hand again slid around and down to his stomach. He felt warm under her cool fingertips. ". . .Don't. . ."

"Don't what?" She asked, voice hushed in his ear.

"Don't touch me like this." He took a slow breath, his head spinning. Leaning back she shoved her ANBU fox mask up leaving her hair messy in front of her face. She smiled a little and looked in to his exposed eye.

"Don't you want to know how he saved me?"

"You are ROOT." The words sounded hollow, insignificant against the reality of her presence. "I am. . ."

"You are what?" Both hands reached up and slipped under the top of his black mask.

"I'm. . ."

She pulled the mask down and leaned close, her fingers resting over his lips. "Kakashi." She whispered. "Did you miss me?"

She was close, so close. He bit his lip and tried to look away, his heart was in his throat. Finally, a confession. "I missed you more than you will _ever_ comprehend."

Her hands slid down to his chest and she shoved him back against the tree. Gentle, he could shover back and overpower her. He couldn't move, his knees felt like jelly. Leaning forward she brought her lips to his gently, _softly_. Her stomach was flat against his stomach. Her hips dug in to his hips. "I missed you too."

He should bring her in. He should kill her. He should pull his ANBU mask down and run a blade through her skull. His arms laced around her body and he pulled her close. _Tight._

The sun slipped under the horizon and they were covered by the night, hidden. No one had to know he'd seen her. No one had to know. . .

oooOOOooo

"So. . .uh. . .Did you two. . .?" Jiraya asked slowly. His eyes were still down cast, his voice low and rough. Had he asked at any other time it might have sounded perverted, crass. It might have been a joke.

Kakashi turned to the sage sanin. He'd been betrayed. He'd have given any thing to be able to rip the man's heart out with his Mangekyo Sharingan. He had to settle for a torrid glare instead, to depleted to manage any thing more. "She attacked me the next morning." Bitter, the words tasted so very bitter. Bile was still in his throat.

Jiraya looked up at that and shifted uncomfortably. "She attacked you. It was a set up. Wasn't it?"

Kakashi lowered his gaze. "I. . . I don't know."

It had never been funny.

oooOOOooo

The sun had crawled back up, lazy, hot, and white. He sat up and looked down at the woman next to him. Gingerly he stroked her cheek.

"Rin?"

She blinked up at him and a gentle smile spread. "Good morning." She sat up, and leaned against him. I was afraid you were a dream. I didn't want to wake up all the way."

"I'm real." He assured her. It was a strange turn of thought, after the evining before, he hadn't been sure she was real. "As real as you are, any way."

She grinned. "Then I suppose we are both real, and this tree is real, and the sand is real. . ." She trailed off with a small giggle. "I wish we could stay here forever."

He stared at her, at the way the sun played with her hair, warmed her skin. She was soft like the fine est fur, but was strong like steel. He stroked her cheek again, reluctant to loose the moment. Still. . . he was on a mission.

"I have to report back."

She leaned against his arm and traced little circles around his tattoo, her smile fading. "Why not come with me?"

He looked down in to her eyes. They were deep pools, fawn and chocolate, warm and inviting. Why not?

At the moment it was hard to imagine a world out side of the one he was sitting in. Hard to see any one other than her. But a cheeky blond face popped in to his mind, demanding his attention, his tutelage. Even if he wouldn't see Naruto for another two years he wasn't want to abandon his duty to him. Or to the village Naruto so passionately loved despite the evils it had heaped upon him once..

"_I'm going to be the next Hokage!" _ His stupid grin was almost laughable. Yet he could still believe in the hyperactive jinchuriki, Minato's son, believe because he _was_ Naruto.

"I have to go back. My team needs me." He reached around and let his arm fall over her shoulders. "I want you to see him for your self Rin. You have got to meet Naruto. He looks so much like Minato it's almost frightening. But he acts just like his mother. I've never met any one like him before."

She smiled up at him. "You make him sound like a wonderful person."

"He is."

She pulled back, away from him. "Kakashi. . ." The corners of her mouth bent down. "Irregardless of who he is, or who is parents were, he's still a weapon to a lot of people."

"He's a human being."

"Not to everybody."

The sent of rotting flesh drifted between them.

Kakashi stood and started to gather his things in ana tept to distract him self from the dicition he had to make. The chores weren't working, his mind jumped between Naruto's enthusiastic grin and Rin's presence over and over like a frightened rabbit looking for a way out. "You have to meet him, I know you don't think of him as a person, not yet, but you will." He was pleading with her to trust him, even if he couldn't say it out loud.

"I can't." She stood as well. "_We _can't."

We. 'We the leaf' or 'we ROOT'? He tugged his shirt on. Kakashi and Rin. To her it was possible the two were inseparable. "Just talk to him once, that's all I'm asking you to do." Once would be all she needed, he was sure of it. Maybe it was 'we us', he added, hopeful.

"I have a mission." Her back was to the rising sun making her face shaded and hard to read, but her words were suddenly all to flat. The softness from her countenance was gone. She was. . .

"The Fox saved me."

. . .ANBU.

He tugged his mask on and forced a smile. "Come with me." Even with out the fox mask her emotions were invisible to him. "Talk to Naruto. Please." He reached for her.

"I'm forbidden to interact with the jinchuriki. You don't understand."

He frowned. "You said the fox saved you." Stepping up to her he wrapped his fingers around her arm. "Tell me. . ."

"I have been sealed in to silence." Her words were cold.

"You're after what lies within Naruto. It's a Kyuubi, isn't it?" he ran his fingers up and down her arm. She felt cold, despite the warm sun. "ROOT, Akatsuki. . . all after him, _my_ student."

"You sound so possessive. Can you really love him?"

"You are the one who spoke of love, Rin." He let his hand drop. "You said _it_ saved you, that _it's_ hate was supposed to be repelled by love. I don't know what you mean by 'it', but I think. . . I think I can believe in that. Naruto hated people, and they hated him. He has a wonderful power though, he changes people's hearts."

"It's not Naruto who needs the love, Kakashi, it's the Fox. It's_ Naruto_ who is the weapon."

Cold settled in to his bones. From the begigninshe'd spoken of the fox. Was it the ANBU mask or the Tailed beast. It was a question he hadn't willingly acknowledged, afraid of the answer. "I don't understand."

"Come with me. I can show you." She took his wrist. "The Fox is our salvation." She pulled, he remained still.

"The fox nearly killed our entire village. Minato. . . had I been there to help. . ." Old washes of guild sprung up, like a leak in a well aged dam.

"It's force is unstoppable, Kakashi." She gave him another tug. "Come. Please."

"You need to come with me. To the village. Just talk to him, Rin."

It was a stalemate, a challenge either could back down from. His stomach churned as the smell of death floated up again. She let go. "You won't come with me?"

"Naruto is _not_ a weapon. If you know me then you know I'm the wrong person to ask to betray my comrades. You know I'd rather die."

They stood, staring, her eyes searching his. "I'll. . ."

"Just talk to him _once_." He'd take her back if he had to, his heart was pounding again.

She continued to stare before a smile relight her face. "If it's that important, if you really believe in him. . .I'll get my things."

He sighed - joy, gladness, _bliss - _it all soothed back the fear and dread. She was coming back, coming home. "I'll help you." She pulled him close, her hands warm again.

"You really do believe in him, don't you?" She set her head on his chest. "Minato's son."

"I do."

They stood, holding each-other, for several moments. Then she pulled away. "I'll hurry and pack."

"OK."

She pulled away and set about gathering her things. He turned and picked up his Wolf mask. ANBU. . . he didn't know if he believed in it any more.

He stuffed it in to his pack and stood. No matter what pain had befallen the village here in the sand, what ever madness had taken them, it was over. Peace was settling over the land. The last two breathing humans with in miles were together again.

His sharingan eye caught a glint of steel and he had only an instant to react.

ooOOOooo

"I never sensed her intent. Maybe I was blinded."

Tunade was fingering her gem. "We all become weak when we love people." She twisted the gem slowly between her thumb and her four finger. "What matters is in the end you did what you had to do."

Her words sounded like a shallow sort of praise. He ignored it.

Jiraya cleared his throat. "How did you kill her?" He looked sorry, stricken. "We need to know, was it the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

He looked down at his hands. "No. That came much latter. I. . . I used a much more primitive method on her."

…...

Ten Ten and Shino stood, side by side, atentive, while Lee was a back aways, looking woried. Hinata was taking her turn watching over Neji.

"Why can't I come?" Lee asked. "If Naruto is in danger then we ALL ought to be there!"

"I will call for you." Guy said firmly, setting his hand on Lee's shoulder. "Your Youth will be my strength! Remember out motto!"

"Stronger than we were the day before!" Lee nearly shouted!

Shino eyes him uneasily. "You have a motto?"

Guy brushed over the question quickly. "Lee, Neji is still very weak right now. It's very important to protect him while I'm gone. Can I trust you with that?"

"With my life, Guy-Sensei!" He saluted crisply.

"We'll both protect him!" TenTen flashed one of her weapons dangerously.

"Very good." Guy turned to Shino. "I can not ask any thing from you. . ."

"I too will protect my fellow countrymen."

Guy had to keep strong focus on his mission in order NOT to cry. "Very, very good. I will return when I know what we are up against. When I do I hope you will all be stronger than you are right now!"

Shino spoke, slowly, smoothly. "I will be sure to keep my insects in top condition."

"We'll train hard!" Lee Saluted again. This time TenTen saluted eagerly as well.

"Be strong, my students! LET YOUTH PREVAIL !"

…...

Kiba stormed in to the Hokage's office unanounced.

Empty!

Asuma thundered in after him, yelling at him that they had to be admitted to the office, but stopped short when he saw the desk abandoned.

"She's out?" Asuma frowned. "We need to find her."

"Akamaru will track her." Kiba patted Akamaru's sides and the dog turned about. The sent was strong, fresh. . . She couldn't be far. They were bounding, almost to the front door, when Shizune stepped in front of them. Akamaru yelped and leaped, not wanting to hurt the woman.

Kiba jumped as well, caught the sent of tears, and vaulted him self to the celling. Asuma apeared in the hall, and then the rest of is team from behind Shizune.

Startled by all the sudden commotion she dropped what she had been holding and stumbled back in to Choji. The Teen Caughrt her and let her slide to the ground.

"What's wrong?" He asked, kneeling with her.

She looked at them all, eyes wide. "I. . . What are you all doing here?"

"We need to find Iruka-sense." Asuma offered her a hand back up. She took it and sniffled.

"I just spoke with him in my office."

Kiba looked down at Akamaru. "We'll go there and track him!"

Asuma nodded. "Do it!"

…...

oooOOOooo

Shaking, he couldn't stop shaking. The blood on his hands. The real blood all the way up to his elbow. The hole in her chest. It was cold now. It had been cold for a while. Some one had come, some one strong and tall.

"Report."

He'd thrust through with Chidori, his signature attack, one used only on the most vile. Used only when his was most impassioned in a fight, when his hate was beyond what he could temper.

"She. . . she's. . ."

The smoke had stopped wafting up from the neat and tidy opening.

"Dead, yes, I can see that." Heavy toe capped boots stepped over the body. Hawk's hollow masked eyes bore down on him. "You killed her."

All he could do was nod. His throat felt like it was closing up on him.

"Why?"

He couldn't speak, couldn't tell the agent before him how his fingers had torn her heart out because she threatened his student. His Naruto. She was after the Jinchuriki. Was Hawk one of them? He couldn't know.

"_Report_, Agent Wolf. Answer the question. Why did you kill Agent Fox?"

"She." He looked up. His breaths were coming in trembling, erratic, gasps. "I didn't mean to. I didn't want to."

Agent Hawk sighed and looked him over coolly. He was glad his mask was on, glad the other agent couldn't see the tears forming in his eyes. Useless, useless. ANBU don't cry.

"OK, look, I know she. . . she was a former team member, right?" The gruff demand for answers was only slightly subdued.

He nodded pathetically. "Yes. Her name was Rin." He had to keep his breathing steady, level. He couldn't stop shaking.

"OK, so what happened?"

"I. . . I don't know. I was on a mission to the capital of Sand, Sauna, to deliver a message from the Hokage when I ran in to her." He clenched his fists, trying to calm him self. "We. . ." This time he faltered and Hawk chuffed.

"You two _what_?" There was accusation in his voice, a sultry leer. Like Jiraya near a bath house.

He wanted to keep it together. ANBU don't cry, ANBU don't panic. He took a shuddering breath and found he couldn't stay calm. He was still shaking, shaking, shaking. . .

"OK, never mind, I know what you two were doing. Fox was a hard woman to say no too."

His head snapped up. The words were hard, like stones, and settled roughly in his gut.

"What?" The masked head tilted and there was a shallow shrug. "As her former team mate I'm surprised you haven't heard the nicknames she'd been given. Kitsune the man killer, Foxy Fortnight, Fox Fire Fling. . ." Kakashi suppressed a snarl and clutched his fists tighter. "My favorite was Fox Frolic."

"I'll kill you." He growled, his mind beyond rational thought.

"I really doubt that." Hawk shifted on his feet, easy, unconcerned. He seemed annoyed and a little board. "Just because you killed Konoha's number one Kinky Konochi doesn't mean you can kill _me_."

Steel was in his fingers as fast as he could pull it from it's sheath. He stood and poised the weapon at the other agent. The only thing keeping him from attacking was the queasy inability to keep rightly balanced. It would be suicide to strike now. His mind wasn't satisfied however and he heard him self rambling. "I _can_ kill you. I know about you, Hawk. You went insane and tried to kill your self while on a mission. You're. . ."

"I am NOT crazy!" Hawk kicked him in the chest, Cutting him off and knocking him back down in to the sand. "I'm not the one who killed a former team mate. I'm not the one so rattled by said actions that I've forgotten all about _rank_ and _insubordination_. You are spent, Agent Wolf, after murdering one of our own agents. So stand down, shut up, and listen to me!"

The words thundered like a land slide, crushing crushing. Kakashi couldn't pull him self free. "But. . ."

"No, no buts. Now get your sorry ass up and march east. My camp is only two miles out, you should reach it by sun down. Wait for me there. If I don't come then one of my summons will. You will be given instructions then. Understood?"

There was nothing he could do. She was gone. Hawk was a rank above, his superior. ROOT or not Kakashi didn't have the will or the energy to resist. "I understand."

"Good. Now if you will excuse me I have to get rid of her body." Hawk turned his attention back to the corps and knelt.

"Can I. . ." The words were hard, thick. "Can I say good by first?" The pain was clear in his voice, but he didn't care.

Hawk sighed and stood back up. "Sure, knock your self out. But you only have one minute, so be quick."

He pulled him self up and again knelt next to the body. He was starting to shake again, shake so hard it hurt in his bones. "You know, for all these years, I thought she was dead. I thought I could have saved her, protected her some how."

"Good job with that this time around." Hawk scoffed.

Kakashi looked up, trembling, and growled. "Haven't you ever lost people?"

"No. You can't loose what you never had." Hawk stepped back up to the body. "Your minute is up, by the way." He knelt and pulled out some explosive tags. "So unless you want to watch your girlfriend go boom I suggest you leave. It's going to get very messy, very fast."

He pulled him self to his feet and stepped back, helpless, worthless. There was nothing he could do. Every chance he'd been given he'd blown. In a puff of mist he was gone.

oooOOOooo

"And that's the truth." He glared at the two Sanin, challenging. When neither moved he shoved the waist can away and swung his legs off the bed.

"Where do you think you are going?" Tsunade growled, still holding the gem.

"I've been here long enough." He replied. "Now that Naruto is dead we'll be besieged by every scum and trash creature that has the gal to call it's self a ninja. I'm useless here."

"You are not well, Kakashi." Jiraya looked him over, his face etched deep with a frown. "I pushed you too hard too fast."

"No, you were right to push me. I was holding my self back, thinking I could have done some thing to protect the _jinchuriki_." He set his feet on the floor and stood. He didn't sway or shake, he didn't show any signs of weakness.

He was a shinobi, after all, a well oiled killing machine.

"I'm going to rejoin ANBU. With out students in my way I can do more to keep the borders safe. And now that we have lost our main defense. . ."

"Stop it." Tsunade dropped the gem and thrust her hands to her hips. It was a commanding pose, different from the pose of a sulking woman, different from the looming figure of an interrogator. "Stop talking like that! Naruto was a human being. Don't refer to him like he wasn't!"

"The reason we are in this situation is because he was a jinchuriki." His words weren't defiance, he told him self, they were fact.

"Horrible words." She nearly hissed. "How can you talk like that bout him? You know you loved him! And he loved you too, _brat_! The last thing he charged me with was your care!" From her pocket she drew a needle. "You are unfit for active duty!"

He eyed the needle, mindfull of the last time he'd been injected. He'd narrowly avoided death, but for what? "We both know I'm more valuable on my feet then stuck in this bead. Even if I'm nothing more than a momentary distraction." His efforts had all been in vein. "It's better I die taking down an enemy of Konoha than rot here in this room. It's better if I die pretending to be some one who can protect."

She struck him, hard, across the face. For a moment he was to stunned to react. In that moment she had pressed the needle in to his IV port.

"Sit back down." She hissed. "You aren't going any where until I clear you. Naruto told me to care for you, so I will. He loved you, and eventually you'll snap out of this inhuman detached state. All Ninja do. It's only a matter of time."

The drugs reached his system fast as lightning. Lead seemed to fill his veins, making him feel hundreds of pound heavier. His knees bent under the sudden strain and his body swayed. "You can't. . ." His vision blurred.

Jiraya was there, guiding him back, murmuring apology after apology. They were soft, sorrow filled, words that pored out like blood from a wounded heart. Kakashi tried only once to fight the Sage Sanin, but he was to strong. He wanted to rip his bleeding heart out. Rip it out like he'd ripped Rin's heart out. "I will rejoin ANBU." A promise. A deceleration. A defiance of all that sorrow and soul wrenching guilt. He'd be a machine again. Then it wouldn't hurt any more.

"I'll let you." Tsunade was gathering the empty plates. They rattled together as her hands were shaking. He couldn't tell if it was anger or anguish that troubled her. "Once you are well you may do what ever you please. But for now you will lay here, and you will recover. And you WILL remember that Naruto tried to save YOU. Do NOT let that go to waist."

"His own fault he never listened. I told him the life of a ninja was hard. We don't cry, we don't mourn. We murder."

The room was growing dark. Jiraya was stepping back, eyes down cast. Was he crying? "Kakashi. . ."

"I have nothing to say to you, old man." His eyes were sliding shut, wighted down against his will. Silence filled the room, broken only by the clatter of cutlery and medical equipment beeping and humming to life. "Traitor." The world washed black.

…...

The trail was hot at Shizune's office, fresh and new, minutes old. It reeked of killing intent.

"He's after some one, but who?"

Akamaru whimpered and sniffed at the ground.

"We need to find him buddy, and we need to do it _now_!"

…...

Fuka pressed him self tight in to the small window alcove as the two Sanin passed by. They were so absorbed in their morose conversation that they did not notice him. He grinned an even, level, grin, showing his teeth.

If the legendary Sanin did not detect him, who would?

As soon as they were gone he stepped out in to the halls. They were empty, void of protection. Easy. He approached the door and twisted the knob. It clicked willingly under his touch. The door swung open on well oiled, silent hinges. Soundless, to keep from walking people who needed sleep. Needed rest.

Fuka stepped in to the room and shut the door behind him. Before him, like a sacrificial offering on an alter, Kakashi laid unconscious. His inert body offering no obstacle. Fuka stood over him and pulled out the syringe. He leered as he picked up the Copy Cat's IV port.

"Sweet dreams, Hatake-san."

* * *

Because I DO have the next chapter PARTLY done how about a preview?

_"Sauske, you have to get out of here!"_

_Sauske dropped to his knees. ". . .Naruto. . ." _

_"OUT! NOW!" The rage slammed in to him again and he screamed. _


	17. Team Seven

Here is the next chapter. I'd like to remind you that this chapter was originally written WITH chapter 15. I hope this upload will prove it's self cleaner than the last one, as I've had more time to baby it. But if you know me then you KNOW how bad a speller I am. Slowly my friends, slowly I learn and fix things. One day I will get better! *Makes a fist* I really hope you like it, despite the lack of skill used in writing it.

* * *

Chapter 16: Team Seven

…...

Sai stood, his hand clutching the hilt of a kunai, and watched with a raised eyebrow as Naruto sagged around the steel weapon. He had been dead, that much Sai was sure of. They had ALL been sure of that. Now he was dead _again_.

At least that's what logic told him. Generally when a person is stabbed in the base of the skull deep enough they die instantly. Then again when one is missing their heart and lungs they also tend to be classifiable as dead.

Sai let the handle go and watched with out satisfaction as the blond slumped in to a lifeless heap.

"What IS he?" Kabuto blurted, eyes cemented on to the dead body before Sai's feet.

"A Jinchuriki." Sai replied.

Sakura was screaming obscenities at him from where she lay, and her chakra was every where like spines and knives and all other manner of sharp weaponry. It lashed and sliced at the air around her, but it was not helping her physically in any way. She was trying to stand, but her body was badly broken. Her words were grating, screeching, and all together insane sounding. She was raving like a lunatic, and after a moment Orochimaru shot her a distressful glare.

The serpent sanin wavered after that. Kabuto steadied him and frowned. It would not be long at all now before the Sanin would need a new body. Sauske's body.

Sai did not have much time to act. He had to take the Uchiha out tonight, if at all.

"Oro. . ." Kabuto started, but was cut off as Orochimaru waved his hand.

"Sai." He said with a small hiss. "Commendable timing in action." He smiled. "As expected."

"My lord?" Kabuto asked, his brows knit together. His inquiry was waved off.

"He reminds me of some one."

"Who?" Kabuto asked, staring.

Again he was waved off. "I expect good things from you, Sai."

Sai didn't know what to do with the compliment so he bowed ever so slightly. From his side Sakura was trying to stand. She trembled as she staggered up to one foot, but cried out in pain and fell back to the stone floor.

"I hate you!" She snarled, oblivious to the exchange.

Kabuto's face shifted from flat shock to some thing Sai could not place. Though his chakra suggested he was angry and possibly worried. Once more Sai found him self _wanting_ his book.

"Sakura, how is it he came back to life?" The medic asked.

"Go to hell." She spat.

Orochimaru licked his teeth and looked around. Standing straight he took a level breath before speaking calmly. His chakrea did not indicate he was at all calm. "Heal her, Kabuto, we need the information she has." He then turned his eyes to Sai. "Take the Jinchuriki's body to my labs. I want to see just what makes this child tick."

"Yes, my lord." Sai bowed again.

Kabuto hesitantly let Orochimaru go and walked up to Sakura. By now she'd stopped trying to move and was helplessly glaring from the floor. Every thing about her was different now, her energy was flat and her body was limp. Kabuto knelt down and began the healing process. She did not resist but instead allowed him to handle her any way he chose to.

Orochimaru stumbled back and leaned against the stone wall he'd formally been thrown in to. "Go now, Sai." He hissed, though it sounded a little like a wheeze as well.

"Yes my lord." Beckoning his ink binds he began to make his way through the dark halls. Naruto's limp form sagged in the black strands. Still his eyes looked sharp and angry. Sai could feel the restless energy of the tailed beast with in lashing out like panic.

"And guard that body!" Orochimaru called after him. "If it starts to move pin it down!"

"Yes, My Lord." Sai said again.

…...

"_Have you ever been tortured before, Tsunade sama?"_

_The cold blue eyes of the fifth Hokage bore down like the relentless waves of the see. There was a depth there that she hadn't seen before. "Many times."_

_It almost made the next question to hard to ask. "Where you prepared?"_

"_I was." _

_Heavy iron doors opened and an imposing man, Ibiki, stood at the center of a black void. His eyes were even colder, far darker, and lacked compassion entirely._

"_Every inch." Tsunade said, "Save for what I have bound my self."_

_Sakura did not have to glance down to see just how very little cloth separated her from the torture specialist._

"_Every inch except. I understand." He gave a short nod. "Come."_

_Sakura felt Tsunade squeeze her shoulder, the last act of friendly humanity she felt for nearly a month and a half, before the woman left her alone with the foreboding specialist. She strode forward and the heavy doors closed behind her. Solid, impassable. Willingly she marched up to the man she thought she did not fear. In short order she learned what fear was, and what it meant to hold tight the Will Of Fire. Humanity and compassion could only be protected if she could keep that flame alive._

"Tell me how Naruto came back to life, Sakura Chan."

She looked up through sweat soaked hair at the thin medical ninja before her. Kabuto had severed the tendons in her legs, leaving her to hang like meat from a hook by her bound hands. His all to soft sickly sweet mile was creepy, but not overly terrifying.

She'd had worse.

"Go to hell, you pig." He struck her, open palmed, across the face. She'd had _so much worse_. "You hit like a girl."

Anger flared up in his weary blue eyes. He was swaying a little now, and she suspected he was as out of energy as she was. He struck her again, a full fisted punch this time.

She'd been more or less out of the main fight with the Sanin and the medical nin before her, but the emotional stress had sapped her of much before Naruto had revived. Tsuande hadn't taught her just how to endure the horrifying reality of hostile captivity, but had started training her on how to shift her reserves on a massive level in a short amount of time. The beginner stages of the yin seal.

Sakura had almost half of her energy stored up when she and Naruto had been discovered by the snake. Knowing her blond team mate didn't have what he needed to fight the snake him self she had taken the opportunity to try out her training. She'd meant to come down on top of it's head, not get swallowed whole.

Improvising was yet some thing else she had been taught by Tsunade, so when she had found her self sliding down the snake's throat she used and explosive tag. She couldn't let all of the chakra go in stages yet, so she'd shoved every ounce of the reserves in to the little tag. She was still tacky from the resulting gory eruption, and mostly depleted. The last of her reserves had been spent just trying to get here.

"You are trying my patients."

She had to bite her tongue to keep from making a snarky medical joke. She wasn't Naruto, she wasn't going to sink to lame jokes and sarcasm. She settled for some thing she hopped would shift the context of the interrogation off of Naruto.

"You fought Tsunade Sama." It stung to speak, her lip was completely split open in two places. "I can see why she was unimpressed with you."

He snatched up a fist full of her hair and glared, un willing to be bated in to going off topic.. "Tell me how Naruto revived."

"You can not crush the Will Of Fire." Sakura leveled her own glare. "You can not make me tell you any thing."

"Will of Fire. Rubbish and lies." He let her go and leaned back to study her. "You will tell me, even if it takes a number of days, you will tell me."

She allowed her self one Naruto like grin, even though it tugged mercilessly on her lips. "You can not crush the will of fire. I will take my knowledge to the grave."

"You will beg me for mercy." he leaned close. "I know where Konoha draws it's line at preparing it's women for torture.

She sucked in a breath and spat. Blood and phlegm dripped from his glasses. There was a terrible moment where his chakra flared in to a suffocating halo of doom. Then, as he swayed just a little, the whole bubble of energy popped and he sagged. His pride was wounded, not Just by Naruto, but by her own resistance. She felt a swell of personal victory, but knew once rested he would return and the real ordeal would start.

"I will be back for you tomorrow."He pulled his glasses off and started to clean them. "If you do not brake tomorrow then I will be back the next day, then the next. . . You _will_ die here."

Sakura lifted her chin and gave her best Naruto grin. "You can not brake the will of fire. If I die, I die strong."

He turned from her and started to walk away. "You will die squealing like a broken child." He opened the door and left her, hanging, alone. The lights vanished and utter darkness engulfed her. Still she grinned.

Moments passed, then minutes. Her legs were useless, but her fingers could still flex. Slowly she began to pluck at the ropes that bound her. One thin thread snapped under her sharp nails. Then another. Then another.

She would be free by morning.

…...

Sai had no trouble lifting the still warm corpse on to the examination table. Naruto's body was lighter than it had been the day before. There was still damage apparent from the fight he'd already had when he'd been killed the first time.

That was an interesting thought - Killed the _first_ time.

Sai found him self involuntarily rubbing the back of his head. He felt confused. His mission should have been simple. Infiltrate Orochimaru's hide out and kill Sauske. Naruto, now that he had proven not even death could stop him, complicated things.

He shrugged off the strange sensation of the confusion. He wanted to go fulfill his mission now, while every one was distracted, but he couldn't if Naruto was going to come back to life again. The tailed beast's chakra was erupting from every inch of his body like knives, though it was invisible. Soon, however, if it continued to cast out this violently it would be visible to the naked eye. Orochimaru had ordered him to restrain the body should it start to move, which he was sure it would do.

Logically he could restrain the body now and go to do his mission, then return to further guard it. Logic was by no means sure here.

He reworked the black strands quickly, thank full that at this point the body was still limp. As he had not seen it revive he had no idea how long it would take before Naruto would again wake up. As he was about to finish and go Orochimaru and Kabuto entered the room.

". . . before we plunge head long in to the unknown." Kabuto was saying emphatically.

Orochimaru was waving his words off. "Sakura was trained by Tsunade. It will take us weeks to get her to talk. I can devise the secrets from his body fast enough my self with out her aid." The serpent Sanin was swaying a little as he walked before bracing him self against a shelf. Here he was free to act as he felt with in the privacy of his own base, accompanied by his own medic.

"All I am saying is you are in no condition to be toying with a tailed beast. It's already nearly killed you twice now and I don't know if I can. . ." The medic's voice faltered here.

Orochimaru's eyes shifted and softened towards his medic. "Ahh.. yes... Forgive me, Kabuto, you are spent, aren't you?" He licked his teeth.

"Forgive me, My lord, but I am exhausted." He bowed a little.

Orochimaru frowned and turned to Naruto's corpse. "We will retire soon. But first I wish to see how well he has repaired the damage to his internal organs." He glanced back with a thin smile. "Acceptable?"

Kabuto nodded and pulled out a case of tools. "Yes, all right, allow me." The medic stepped up to the table and looked the prone body over.

Sai moved to the side, and watched with slight dissatisfaction as the labs door was closed and locked By Orochimaru. He couldn't get to Sauske now.

"I can feel the beast's chakra all over the body." Kabuto said slowly. "How interesting."

"I knew you'd feel better the moment you were back in your element." Orichimaru grinned.

Sai stepped up to the end of the table and watched, curiosity momentarily distracting his need to fulfill his mission. Orochimaru spotted him for the first time then.

"You want to watch, eh, Sai?"

"If you will allow it, my lord."

"You may." He gave a soft chuckle and a nod. "It will do you good to see this, to see how I have the means to take a tailed beast."

Sai shifted and quirked an eyebrow. Orochimaru, in his weakened state, had been defeated by Naruto. iI was only by Sai him self, and Kabuto earlier, that Naruto had fallen. Once Orochimaru had the power of the Uchiha's body, however, the statement would be true enough.

"Are you ready, Sai?" Orochimaru asked.

"Yes, my lord."

"Kabuto, would you like to do the honors?"

The medic smiled ever so slightly. "I would love to." There was a strange hungry look in his eyes all as he peeled back the remains of Naruto's shirt and jacket. Lifting his tools he made a large Y shaped incision in the flesh of the chest and peeled it back.

Sai felt the beastly chakra shudder. For some reason it could not manifest beyond where it was. He glanced at Naruto's mouth, the tip of the Kuni was visible. With Naruto's brain cut off from every thing else at the base of the skull it was possible that the beast had no way to access the body fully. One needed a brain to function, after all.

Bones cracked and ribs were spread, every inch of internal organs with in Naruto's chest were perfectly formed and in the right place. Sai felt him self shudder in the face of the power of the tailed beast. Even if it was trapped by the Kuni, he had no doubt it would be able to manifest it's self in another way.

This strange power Naruto had, that ROOT wanted, that the world was in upheaval over. . . The power felt evil, yet some how Naruto was untouched by it. Even in the cationic dead state Sai could feel small traces of the bright chakra mixed in with the yellow razor blades.

The feeling sparked a memory, one he'd not visited for some time. It was like a ray of sun light in the darkest, deepest, most horrifying cavern back in ROOT's hidden Command center. Sai had never stepped in to that small shaft of light when it was there, he'd never even considered doing so then. Now, just for a moment, Sai wanted to know what standing in that light felt like once more.

…...

"_What is that?"_

_Kind warm eyes looked down, light shimmered all around her, her head, her face. There was light every where._

"_What is what?"_

_He pointed, noticing how chubby his small fingers were. "THAT. What is it?"_

_She picked up the object of his interest and held it up. "It's called a paint brush."_

"_Give?" He reached for it, little fingers twitching. "Please!"_

"_Put your hand over mine."_

…...

Naruto grunted. His head hurt like it had never hurt before, but his body by contrast was completely numb. It was as if his head had decided to reject the signals it was supposed to be getting normally. He found it hard to lift his head, but when he did he saw his body was split open like a fish at the market. He could see all of his guts spilling out all over a dirty medical table. It was not a comforting sight.

"Awe _Crap._"

He couldn't move either, his hands and feet were bound down tight, though some how he felt that even if they were free he wouldn't have been able to move them any way. He couldn't really feel any thing.

Shifting his head he looked over and saw a dark haired, dark eyed youth standing next to him. In his hand was a bloody Kunai.

"Hey, Sai." he licked his dry lips. "You do this?"

"No." he answered flatly. "I removed the Kunai." He gave it a small shake to show the weapon off.

Naruto glanced back down at his stomach. Nothing looked stabbed, more like sliced. Then again it was hard to tell, really, when the damage was so extensive. "From where?" As if it mattered.

"From where I plunged it in to the back of your skull." Again Sai's voice was flat and borderline bored. He lowered the weapon and set it aside.

It explained the head ache, and possibly the numb disconnect. Naruto tried to move again but nothing responded. Glancing back at his supposed team mate Naruto frowned. "Did you cut me open?"

"No."

They stared at each other for several moments. Awkward. Naruto squinted in displeasure.

"Mind untying me?"

"I can not do that." The void tone and hollow black eyes gave the teen an eerie, in human, look. "I have some questions for you before I fulfill my mission."

"If it's your mission to kill me good luck with that." Naruto grunted as he looked his binds over. Maybe if he got his brain and body to reconnect he could brake free. "Death doesn't seem to want to stick." It wasn't metal or rope, but some sort of black liquid, like ink. Ink, of course, Sai was restraining him.

"Your death is not my mission." Naruto was only a little surprised by that, but he had other concerns now. Looking up at the teen again Naruto tried to remember what he'd been taught to do in capture scenarios. Under the harsh glare of the over head surgical lights Sai looked like a corpse him self. The only thing he could remember, at the moment, was that Jiraya had told him that if he was ever betrayed by a team mate then he was screwed.

Quite frankly Naruto didn't believe that, else he wouldn't have come here in the first place. He had to try and reach past those dead black eyes. Maybe there was something human with in Sai he could reach.

"So. . ." He tried to sound conversational, which was hard when you were open like meat at the butcher shop. ". . . what is your mission?"

"I can't speak of it." He replied, still toneless and creepy.

"Why not?"

The teen stuck his tongue out and pointed to s swirl of black. After he pulled it back in he said, "I have been sealed in to silence."

Well, that was convenient for him, Naruto mused. Sai had to have a reason to be here. Maybe to kill Orochimaru, maybe some one else. It didn't really matter to Naruto at the moment. What he needed was Sai to let him go so he could find the rest of his team and _go_.

That included Sauske.

He laid his head back down and scrounged his mind for some thing to say. "You know under those lights you look like the living dead."

"That's ironic, coming from a talking corpse."

"Yeah, well, not my choice."

"Indeed."

Again Naruto looked up at the lifeless looking face. Now that he'd had not one, but two enforced naps his mind was so much more clear. If he was going to get Sai to help him he needed to be able to find some way to connect with him.

_"I am Sai Haki. My only dream is to serve the leaf. I have no dislikes, but I do enjoy painting."_

"I have your art book." It was amazing how the lifeless eyes suddenly lit up.

"My book?" They almost sparkled.

"Yeah, it's in my. . ." He glanced down. ". . .pants. . . um, where are my pants?"

Sai looked down _there _as well. "In the corner of the room." There was a long moment of silence. "You know for some one with so much chakra you really are _undersized_."

Naruto glared. Connecting with this person. . . Naruto realised he'd almost rather be left there to deal with the serpent Sanin and his medic. "Just get my #&$% pants."

…...

_Big black splotches coated his cloths, her cloths, the paper she had brought, and the grass all around them. _

"_Not good." He felt a well of moisture gather in his eyes._

"_Not good yet." She took the paint brush and brought out a new sheet of paper. "All you need to do is practice." Delicately she stroked the white sheet, laying down black lines. "Now watch."_

_Hands formed sings and the ink sprung up, a butterfly, and floated around them both. He reached for it, and the moment his fingers skimmed the lacy wings the whole thing burst in to a million obsidian drops. _

…...

Naruto frowned as Sai retrieved the pants, walked back up to the table, dug through them, then dropped them back on the floor in a heap. The more subtle actions and graces of human culture and society were lost on the ivory skinned painter. Any one else would have been able to see Naruto felt exposed and wanted his pants. Actually he wanted his skin more, but pants would have been good too. Focusing his attention off his own problems, hard as that was with his internals all turned in to externals, he turned his attention to Sai once more.

The teen was flipping through the pages quickly, looking over all of the drawings he'd done before. Then, with the flick of his wrist and the flash of one white sheet, he stopped. For several moments he stared, then, thin as the paper it's self, but no less real, he smiled.

"Ah, now, see?" Naruto said, pleased, maybe there was still some humanity in there. "A real smile, I knew you could do it."

Sai looked up blankly. "Pardon me?"

"You smiled, for real."

"I did?" His face was all dead and hollow looking again.

Suppressing a sigh of frustration Naruto changed verbal tactics. "Show me what you drew on that page."

Reluctantly Sai turned the book around. Naruto expected to see some sort of nude woman, after all of the comments Sai had thrown about regarding lovers and _size_. . . he'd hit Sai for that one, just not till he was free. . . but saw instead the image of a fully clothed woman holding a young child. Both looked so very happy that Naruto had to smile in spite of him self. "So who is she?" He asked, though to him it was already partly obvious.

"I don't know." Sai replied, this time there was just the slightest tremor in his voice. Naruto would have missed it if he hadn't been listing for any changes. "I draw her some times, I think I've seen her before, but I can't remember."

"Do you know her name?"

Sai shook his head.

Naruto shifted about to ask one more question but the movement sent a sudden bolt of hot agony through him. He bit off a growl and sucked air in through his teeth. He needed to get his body back together, quickly, his nerves were all coming back on line. To his surprise when he looked up at Sai again there was a second expression on his face. He looked. . .

"Naruto?"

. . . concerned.

"Hurts." He hissed.

"Having your body split open like that would."

Naruto sucked in another breath as he felt the bones protest from where they had been broken open. "She's your mother, isn't she?" He could move his arms again, but they were still strapped down.

"I. . ."

"Look," He rasped. "I don't know what sort of hell you have had to have gone through to make you a lifeless monster like the ANBU. . ."

"I am ANBU."

Naruto couldn't scrape together any surprise for that statement. None at all. So he continued.

". . . But that's NOT how a true Ninja should live."

"Emotions lead to pain, pain leads to hatred."

Naruto grit his teeth. He could feel nearly every thing now, but it was still muted. Any moment now, however, he knew every thing would kick back on full. He wasn't sure if he could with stand that, but really, he realised, he didn't have a choice. "Your right, but hate isn't bad all in of it's self." He bit back a cry of pain. "I hate Orochimaru, but I'm not a bad person, am I?"

"You. . ." he glanced at his book, looking confused. "You brought my book back."

"Yeah." Naruto decided to keep quiet about why he'd picked it up in the first place. "Yeah I did."

". . .Mother. . ."

Now he could feel every beat of his heart and his skin was in tatters and. . . He shut his eyes and tried not to whimper. "She loved you."

". . .I know."

That surprised Naruto. It was the leverage he needed. He could see the cold eyes clouding, memories dancing just beyond the ten's reach. Naruto had to push him, get him to reach for what he'd been taught to reject. "Sai, she'd be worried about you if she knew you were here with Orochimaru. She looked like a nice person. A good person."

"She hated him." Sai admitted, his face shifting with knowledge he'd forgotten. "I think she wanted to kill him."

Naruto grit his teeth, the last of his nerves were all reconnecting. "I know how she feels."

"I think he killed her." There was a tremor in the teen's voice, an obvious one.

Naruto wanted to keep going, keep pushing Sai to feel some thing. . . but pain slammed through him full force and over whelmed him. He cried out this time as his brain and body finally reconnected. Gasping hurt, but he needed air. He heard him self scream again, but it sounded distant in his own ears.

Then all at once he curled up in on him self. Between his own shrill keening cries he realised all of that talking had done what it needed to do. Sai had untied him. That didn't help with the pain, but Naruto chalked it up to a victory any way.

Once more he'd made a connection, gained confidence, added an ally. It soothed back the blinding ribbons of torment.

He wasn't alone.

…...

_A strong white hand snatched his and pulled him back. "What have we here? An artist?" Long black hair and cold yellow eyes blocked the sun's warmth. _

"_Let him go." The happy smile vanished. "You have no claim to him yet."_

_He looked between them and felt a chill race through his body. _

…...

Guts were a lot more slippery then they should have been. Naruto grimaced as he scooped them up and re-stuffed him self like a scare crow after a wind storm. It had taken several minutes for the pain to ebb back enough for him to start to try and pull him self, literally, back together.

"This is just _wrong_ on oh-so many levels." He panted. While he wasn't in agony, it still stung.

Once he was confident every thing was back where it needed to be, more or less, he turned his attention to Sai. "Do you know where Sakura is?"

The boy looked even more ashen, if that was at all possible. "Some of those intestines looked pretty dirty, are you sure you want them back? You could become infected."

"Any thing I can shove back in before the skin closes up I won't have to _eat_."

Sai actually shuddered at that. "I think she is down the hall, to answer your question about Sakura."

"Good." Naruto watched as his skin knit it's self back together. "Are you still going to go on your mission?"

Sai was silent for several moments before glancing down. "I have no choice but to try. If I don't. . ." He grit his own teeth in sudden pain. "I can't talk about it."

"Fair enough." Naruto patted his stomach, satisfied with how it was all one smooth surface again. Then a new thought entered his mind. "Will you help me save Sauske?"

Sai stared at him, flickers of feelings and thoughts flashed in the black pools of his eyes.

"Well?"

…...

_A flash of black and a roll of paper shot out. Ink dragons leaped to life and struck out, only to be sliced down by the long haired man. The woman scowled, but backed away. _

_He was pulled back in to her warm arms, safe, away from the yellow eyes._

"_I will die before you take him from me."_

"_You will have to kill me, before you can make such a statement."_

"_Then I will do so or die trying."_

…...

"My mother's mission was to kill Orochimaru." He was looking at his book, at the painting of her.

Naruto stretched and felt twinges of pain all over his body. Now that he was one large over all chunk again the slow burn or rage started to filter back in to his mind. He was running out of time. "Look, what ever your mission was it wasn't to kill Orochimaru, right?"

Sai looked up. "Correct."

"OK, here's the real question. If you killed him would that interfere with you mission?"

Sai's brow twitched up slightly. "No, it in fact would not."

Naruto reached out and slapped his hand on the youth's shoulder. "Well?"

Sai leaned back a little, absorbing, before giving a shallow nod. "Perhaps I can. . . I can have my own goal then?"

"We all need some thing to make us happy, right?"

"Happy. . ." He looked back at the painting.

"Lets find Sakura and then we'll. . ." The door clicked and started to roll open. Naruto stepped back, coiling in to a fighting stance. Sai stepped back with him and coiled as well.

"Naruto Uzamaki. I wish to kill Orochimaru."

"Good." The door opened all the way and the sepent Sanin stood, long black hair catching the light that filtered in from behind him. A thick sneer rolled over the chalky white face.

"Well well well, what do we have here?"

_**Rage**_.

"Sai leave." Naruto ground his teeth. "Leave. NOW!"

"But what about you?"

"It's _to late_ for me! Go get Sauske and get him out of here!" Kill. Kill_kill__**KILL**_. . .

"And Sakura?"

"_**GO NOW**_!" Naruto gave him a shove before red engulfed his vision.

…...

_The stranger was gone, but he still felt the chill in the air. _

"_Don't worry, one day you will be strong, you will be talented, and you will paint your own future." She hugged him and smiled again. Slowly he felt his own smile spread. _

…...

The whole world erupted in a flurry of red foam and fire. Walls crumbled and stone melted. Sai jumped past Orochimaru and ran.

He didn't look back to see what the reaction of the serpent Sanin was. So long as he was killed. . . Sai stuffed his book in to his pack and pulled out a scroll. His given mission. His given goal. He tossed it back in to the flames.

The seal on his tongue sizzled a warning, but it was just that. The scolding from a master towards a loyal dog. Sai grit his teeth and ducked as chunks of incendiary rock and wood rocketed past him. The force of the blast knocked him to the ground and shoved him in to a wall. He shook his head and looked up.

Naruto's body was black, his fangs were white, and the chakra rolling out of his body was scarlet foam and yellow razor blades. Twin tails lashed behind him.

. . .twin. . .

The walls above him started to crumble. He rolled away from a hail storm of plaster and stone. He didn't have time to think, only to run. Once more on his feet he fled, not daring to look back at the beast ripping thorough the under ground base.

The halls were winding, twisting, a labyrinth. The map he'd memorized was hazy in his mind now. His orders, given only three days before, seemed like a life time ago.

. . . mother. . .

She had been a ruddy happy woman. Soft brown hair and a sweet smile. Her only sorrow, her only hate, was when Orochimaru was mentioned. Then one day she'd slipped the mask of a Dove on and walked away. She told him that peace would come, that love would solve the world's problem.

She never came back.

Sai nearly missed the corner he was supposed to take and had to skid-slide to slow his momentum. A low rumble of destruction sounded from behind him. A low, long, angry scream reverberated through the empty passages. Naruto's rage was going to destroy every thing. There was little time left.

He took the hall and redoubled his efforts. The more he ran the less and less of the fight he could hear. The base was _huge_. It took endless moments to find the right door in the twisting passages, but once he was before it he could not mistake it for another. The symbol of the Uchiha, The blood red fan and black handle carved in to the wood, seemed to suck what little light the halls had right in to it's self.

An all consuming void. Sai had been given this mission with the stern warning that this would be suicide. It was for the good of the Village, they said. It would bring peace.

That's not what he'd been taught by the smiling Dove who's arms had been ordered away from him.

Sai took a breath and curled his fingers to a fist. He wasn't here to give hate for hate, but offer what was left. His mother loved him. The rest of the world could burn from rage if it had to, but here, Sai needed to remember his last lesson before ANBU had taken him.

He knocked.

The door clicked open and turned silent on hidden hinges. Two cold blood red eyes stared at him from the inky black. Hate. "You have come to kill me."

Sai lowered his fist. "I've come. . ." He took a breath. "I am a member of Team seven and in the name of the Dove of peace I've come to give you the Truth."

Like liquid Sauske moved to stand. He unsheathed his blade and beaconed Sai in. Sai moved forward, compelled, drawn in by those crimson orbs staring him down.

"The only truth I know is that I will kill my brother. If any one stands between me and my Goal then I will eliminate them."

Eliminate. He didn't use the word _kill_.

_Then, in an instant, Sai saw his true self. Curled up and crying. Calling out to his parents. Pain, pain pain. The question 'why' over and over. Obsession and fear. So much fear. Then the rage slammed all other things away._

"Itachi." His tongue burned. "I know where he is. I have come to deliver the truth."

"You lie."

Sai pointed to the seal on his tongue. "This seal prevents me from speaking these things, but with your eyes. . ."

The blade lowered ever so slightly. "Come closer."

Sai stepped up with out hesitation.

"If you are lying. . ."

"Orochimaru will be dead by dawn. That is my dream, my wish. I will die happy."

The red filled his vision. His mind was swamped with rivers of crimson and feathers. "We shall see." The seal burned, but then the pain was gone. The room was gone. The world was gone. Only black and red remained. They stood, shadows in a shadow land. Then the memories, like messages from the past, filled the either around them.

Sauske's eyes widened. ". . .Lies. . ."

Images, laughter, a man with red eyes and a soft smile. A woman with dove's feathers in her hair. The Raven and the Dove.

". . .Lies. . ."

They both wanted peace. They both wanted a better world. Sauske tried to back away. Sai took his wrist.

"Truth."

…...

Sakura grit her teeth against the trembling of the room. It jarred the joints of her shoulders and shook every broken bone in her body. Hollow howls from beyond the door sounded like the harbinger of death had come. The world shook again.

Plaster rained down and the hook she hung from started to loosen. Her legs were still limp, but she had strength left in the rest of her body. Curling up as best she could and pulling her self up with her arms she brought her teeth to the hook. Grabbing on she began to twist and thrash. There was a moment when nothing happened, then all at once the material gave and she crashed to the floor. The jolt of pain that shot through her caused her eyes to water and her lips to tremble, but she blinked back the rush of tears and propped her self up.

The rope was quick work now that she could get to it with her teeth. In moments her hands were free and on her legs, mending the damage there.

"Hold on Naruto, I'm coming. Just hold on!"

…...

Sai was thrown back as Sauske retreated from the memories. "No. Nononono. . ." The Uchiha trembled and sank down against the far wall. "You are lying! _LIES_!" He shivered his eyes wild ands wide. "My brother killed them. ALL of them!"

Sai stepped forward and knelt down before him. He pulled out his book and flipped to the pages of Naruto and the youth before him. "See, these are your true feelings."

Sauske looked at them, eyes like a frightened child, breaths coming in trembling gasps. He reached up and tangled his fingers in his hair..

"And this. . ." He flipped to another page. "Is your brother."

Like Dove, Raven was happily holding a child in his arms. Brothers. Love. The picture was only months old.

"Why?" He nearly wailed, his whole body was near convulsion. So steeped he had been in his own hate that it had become his life blood. With out it every thing he had been was suffocating, withering away, dieing. "_**WHY!**_"

Sai wasn't sure what the question was supposed to mean, but he realized that's the question Sauske had been asking him self over and over and over again.

"I don't know. You'll have to find him and ask him your self." He stood and offered his hand. "You know where he is now."

Sauske eyes the hand as one would eye a poisonous snake. Looking up with dark shimmering eyes, he managed one more question. "N-naruto. . .?"

"Has lost his battle. He too will be dead by morning."

…...

Sakura tested her legs and was satisfied they would hold now. She took an unsteady step towards the door and tested the lock. It yielded easily and she shoved the heavy door open. A blast of heat rushed her, forcing her back.

With out the filter of the solid door the hollow screams became ragged torrents of vehemence. She pressed forward and looked. Orochimaru was crouched behind a small pile of broken wall and ceiling, one arm broken beyond recognition, the other clutching at his heaving chest. Beyond that Naruto stood, black as night, covered in an aura of murderous intent, and lashing with twin tails.

She stepped out past the door, past her only cover, and stood firm. "NARUTO! LISTEN TO ME!"

He turned his head and stared with soulless eyes.

"You have to let go of your anger! You have to remember your promise! You want to save Sauske! You told Kakashi Sensei you would come back!"

"He can't here you now, child." Orochimaru rasped. "He's beyond reason."

Sakura glared at him. "You! I have no problem with him killing you!"

The Serpent Sanin only smiled. "You look like Tsunade when she was younger. I see her passion in your eyes."

Naruto snarled, his movements were slow, clumsy, unfocused. He lifted a paw and took aswipe at the wall next to him. Sakura stepped out further from the door. "Naruto, I know you are still in there! Please, listen to me!"

He snarled. Lifting a paw he lurched towards her, his gold and blood red chakra swelling, reaching. She took a step back. She could walk, but she couldn't run. "No! _**NO**_!"

Silver hair and strong arms filled her vision. Kabuto snatched her out of the way as the paw slammed down where she had been standing. The medical Nin set her down next to Orochimaru.

"Kabuto." Orochimaru tried to stand. "This is not a very safe place for some one who has lost all of their energy."

"Solder pills." He grunted. Sakura was sat down next to the Sanin. "Heal him."

"Why should I?" She growled.

"Sakura chan." Orochimaru looked down at her with an almost soft expression. "None of us alone can take _that_ on." It was an ugly, ugly, truth. Kabuto shoved a bottle of solder pills in to her hands.

"Heal him. I'll distract Naruto."

Sakura swallowed a pill and watched as Orochimaru's mask of flippant indifference slipped just a little. His good hand shot out and grabbed Kabuto's pant leg. "Do NOT get your self killed, brat!"

Kabuto smiled and shoved his glasses up. "I'll do my best, my lord."

…...

Sai ducked under a fallen support beam, narrowly avoiding the shifting lumber as it fell. Before him, blade crackling with electrical chakra, Sauske was dodging the debris with almost absurd ease. The sharingan eyes guided him between even the smallest of dust particles.

Sasuke was still shaking, even as he ran. Sai could see the crying inner child was stunned, dazed, hollowed out by the 'truth'. The question of _why_ was still there, however. If any thing it was being asked with even more force. The old Uchiha was suffering a violent silent death. But a new energy, a new Sauske was emerging. Like a butterfly. Like an ink dragon.

The vengeance was gone and some thing else dark was filling the sudden void. Some thing Sai couldn't quite place yet.

They turned a corner, closer, the ceiling had caved in and the sky above was filled with smoke. The whole base would be demolished.

"There's a blockage up ahead." Sauske growled.

"I don't think the structure of the halls remains relevant to our progress." Sai replied. He leaped up and out of the trashed passage way. Before him, spread out, were lines of collapsed sections and deep pits broken in to the ground. The whole earth rumbled under him in a miniature earthquake.

Sauske jumped up next to him and knelt. He was calming visibly but his inner turmoil was only getting more violent.

"You are unstable, I suggest you remain at least ten meters back from the altercation."

Sauske shot a vehement look up at him. "You will _not_ tell me what to do."

"I only suggested."

The ground trembled again, closer, tunnels imploded and smoke erupted skyward. A snarl, long, low, and savage cut through the thunder of rolling rocks. Naruto climbed up out of the rubble and hunched down, rising from his body were twin tails of red and yellow.

Sauske stepped back with a gasp. "What in the hell!" He turned to Sai and snatched him up by the shirt collar. "What is this?"

Sai blinked. "I. . ."

Naruto howled, silencing Sai. Both teens turned, transfixed as a ball of energy began to build in front of Naruto's fanged teeth.

"This power." Sauske whispered. "It's beyond what I can see." The ball continued to grow, shivering with malevolent energy, before the savage blond.

"He's out of his mind now." Sai said flatly. "His body has been consumed by the power and the need to kill."

"You can see in to people's hearts, right?" Sauske asked in a half snarl.

"I can."

"Is there any thing left of Naruto in there?"

"I can not detect any of his mind. Perhaps it has burned away. . ."

"No." Sauske snapped. "He's stronger than that!"

Sai was about to argue and prove his point with the image of Naruto, but the blond chose that moment to relies the gathered chakra. He shoved it away, slowly, and it rolled in the air. Another ball formed, small and swift, a rasangan. He tossed it in to the larger one.

Just as it struck Kabuto leaped up and struck out at him. Light encompassed the two.

"GET DOWN!" Sai felt Sauske grab him and pull. Sound vanished, light filled every thing, energy drown them, burning.

Sai felt a flicker. Naruto was there, but not for long. They both hit the floor and Sauske shoved him down, covering him. Black energy shot out, the curse, hand-wings covered them both and burned away like paper before a candle.

Sauske screamed.

…...

Naruto whimpered. The flood had come. He fought surge after surge of despair, but there was no use. Blackness was swallowing him whole. He'd failed. He closed his eyes and started to let go.

He couldn't save any one. He was unfit to be Hokage.

"Take me." he whispered. "I'm tired of fighting." The _Dark_ rushed up over his head and he fell, down, down, down. . .

…...

"NARUTO!" Sakura scrambled up and out of the small pocket she and Orochimaru had managed to hide in.

"Are you mad, child, he'll be the death of both of us!" He hissed as they watched the rasangan form.

She turned and glowered at him. "I already said I don't care about you!" Turning back to Naruto she called again. "NARUTO, LISTEN TO ME!"

"I'm going." Kabuto said. He coiled down before leaping.

"Kabuto NO!"

Before Naruto Kabuto sprung up, then all was white and silence and pain and burning. It bounced over the rubble above them and dissolved the ground beyond where they were. A thin bubble of chakra had engulfed Naruto and the surrounding aria, forming a shield. Still the medic was thrown away and slammed in to rocks far from where Naruto stood, panting.

"KABUTO KUN!" Orochimaru sreamed. Sakura watched as a true look of fear spread over the Sanin.

"He's probably dead now." She said with a roll of guiltless pleasure.

Orochimaru turned and sneered down at her. "If he is then who will distract that thing from coming after us?"

She stood as well and fixed her gaze on the black bubbling mass of madness. "I believe in Naruto. He won't let him self fall to some thing like that."

No longer occupied with Kabuto the twin tailed monster turned toward them. It growled, long and low, like the rolling of thunder. Chakra started to ball up in side of it's mouth once more.

Orochimaru cursed and leaped away. Sakura tried to follow, but her legs gave out.

…...

As soon as the energy rolled past them Sai shoved the Uchiha up. His mutated wings were burnt so badly they were crumbling. He stood, dazed, shaking, and gasping for air.

Sai reached out and steadied him. "You saved me."

"Sakura." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Go." He lifted a shaking finger and pointed. "Hurry."

"What about you?"

"Orochimaru. . ."

"Understood."

…...

White hot energy rushed towards her. She closed her eyes, knowing there was nothing she could do to escape.

Messy black hair and soft light skin flashed in her filled of view, some one was pulling her away, again. He smelled of plaster and wood, of sweat and salvation. She looked up in to dark black eyes.

"SAI!"

"Sakura. I have come to save you!" He landed on top of a pillar and held her tight. "Please, stay clear, I do not wish my Team Mates to die."

She blinked, then smiled. "I thought you. . . you. . ."

"I also believe in Naruto." He looked down at her and gave her a paper thin smile.

…...

Sauske ignored the pain lacing it's way through his body as he followed the battered form of Orochimaru. They both reached Kauto's limp body at the same time. The fair haired man was gasping for breath and bleeding heavily from a wound on his head. Orochimaru crouched down and stroked back strands of way ward hair.

"My poor pet."

Kabuto moaned and shifted.

"Shh, stay still." Orochimaru bent close and sunk his teeth in to the younger ninjas lips. Sauske's nose wrinkled with disgust as he watched yet one more of Orochimaru's snake based techniques. With in Orochimaru's body was a nest of serpents, each containing chakra and vital life force. Should Orochimaru be wounded one would dissolve and heal the Serpent Sanin. Only twice before had Sauske seen the dark haired ninja give one of his own snakes away, and both times it had been an angry bite to the throat, forcing the snake through the skin, causing much pain.

This was different. This was mercy. Affection. _Desperation_.

"Even if he revives you still lose. Naruto will kill you both if he gets the chance."

Orochimaru broke contact and backed away. The tail of the snake slipped down Kabuto's throat and vanished. "I know."

"Then why?"

Orochimaru stroked the hair one last time before standing. He swayed a little, then steadied him self. "Listen up, boy, because this is the last lesson I will ever give you."

Sauske frowned. "And that is?"

"Nothing I do can replace the service of one good medical ninja. I need Kabuto to function at all. But that is not what makes him valuable to me." Orochimaru looked down with an almost soft gaze. "He is beyond loyal to me. That can't be forced from any one. It's a gift."

Sasuke looked down at Kabuto. He was breathing a little more easily, but still unconscious. "He is a tool you use."

"He is my friend."

The words sounded strange coming from Orochimaru, Not frced, but not easy either. "Friend." Sauske repeated, unsure of the word him self.

"No one can survive with out the aid of others, Sauske. Not even my self. Even a recluse depends on others, if only to leave him alone."

Sauske looked up, scowling. "What is your point?"

Orochimaru waved his good arm around towards Naruto. "I know why you are still here. We both know that your time with me is done, win or lose. We both know you could run away. But for some reason you are still here, watching the events unfold almost as if you care." He grinned. "Tell me, why are you still here, Sauske?"

He looked over to where Naruto was. 'My team mate.' The thought startled him. He blinked and tore his eyes away. Movement caught his attention, Sai with Sakura. He'd abandoned the notion of team and bonds and family three years ago. Why now. . . Why?

Why? Why why why. . .

"I was given the truth." He said, his voice flat. His body burned and his mind was a liquid swirl of memories that did not belong to him. Images, laughter, a man with red eyes and a soft smile. A woman with dove's feathers in her hair. Love and peace.

"Who's truth?" Orochimaru asked.

"The Truth of Itachi."

Orochimaru hissed softly. "For certain, my empire is at an end. You know, and now, even if we could subdue the beast. . ." He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Sauske, my final lesson is that you need at least one bond in your life to sustain you. For the last three years the only bond you held was the toxic hatred toward your brother. In order to survive you must forge a new bond. Do you under stand me?"

Sauske stared at him.

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I understand you."

He grinned, long and wicked looking. Kneeling once more he stroked Kabuto's cheek. "I'll distract Naruto, you use your Sharingan to try and reach him to stop him. It's all I can do for my poor pet."

"Why should I work with you? Why should I stay and not run?"

Orochimaru looked up calmly, his nails still tracing the pale cheek. "Because if you really believe you have Itachi's truth then you know that is exactly what he would do."

Saukse couldn't argue that, not now. Not after what he'd been shown. "Very well. I will subdue the tailed beasts."

…...

_Naruto scooped up his bag and set his hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "I'll be back. . . Sauske or no Sauske." He said firmly. "I promise."_

There was a sublime peace in the darkness, the rage couldn't fin him here. Nothing could find him here. He could feel his life force draining, ebbing away, fading.

_"You just don't get it, do you?" He shook his head sadly. "I don't want you to save my life." He looked back up with a determined look. "I want you to be safe. What I want from you is. . ." He struggled for a moment. "If some thing happened to you because of me I couldn't live with that. Maybe before. . . before Sauske. But not now. I need you, Kakashi, but not as my shield."_

_Kakashi closed his eyes and sighed. "Narruto. . ."_

_"I am __**not**__ done."_

He was. He was done. There was nothing he could do, no one could save him. No one. . . Death would be a cold consolation. At least he'd be taking the fox with him. Then the other would be safe. Sakura. . . Kakashi. . . every one. . . Sai. . .

"I'm sorry."

. . .Sauske. . .

A hand snatched his wrist up and pulled.

"And people have the gall to call ME an _emo_."

Naruto sputtered as the damp wet of despair drained away from him. "SAUSKE!"

The light skinned, dark haired, youth hauled him up to some where solid and looked him over. "You just can't do _anything_ with out me, can you?" There was no humor in his voice. It was a rebuke, and a cold one. "Pathetic."

Naruto blinked. For just a moment he wondered if the last three years had been some sort of strange, perverted, dream. Maybe they were back at the training grounds. Maybe he'd done some thing stupid again and he was about to be scolded.

"How in the hell did you end up with the _**one tailed beast**_ inside of you?"

He blinked, not comprehending the sentence. His mind couldn't even fully wrap around the person in front of him, in his own inner world, non the less, let alone, what he'd just said. "What?"

Sauske glared at him before gripping even tighter. Violently he was twisted around and shoved towards the cage holding the Fox. "That." Sauske pointed. "How did _That_ get in here?"

Naruto stared, wide eyed, at the monster rattling the Fox's cage. With dark dark rings around it's eyes and a large ringed tail it looked every bit as scary as the last time Naruto had seen it. . . three or so years before, during the chuning exams. It wasn't as big though. The Fox was snarling at it, trying to shove it clear from the cage. "Wh. . . WHAT?"

"How did it get IN here?" There was a warning growl in the other teen's words.

"I don't know!" Naruto half cried. "I didn't even know it WAS here!"

"You _didn't __**Know**_?" Sauske's eyes widened, incredulous.

"_**NO**_!" Naruto stared at the two beasts snarling and battling each other. Kyubbi was trapped, unable to get away from the smaller, faster Raccoon. Racoon was slashing enormous sections of chakra from the Fox and consuming it whole.

"How could you NOT KNOW!" Sauske's voice held a tone of disbelief.

Naruto turned towards the Uchiha and snatched his wrist back. "They aren't PETS, Sauske!" He stepped away, not wanting to be scolded by the one person he'd been so desperately searching for. Trying to save. The one who'd seen what he couldn't. He was stronger, smarter. . . Naruto growled. "It's not like I have to come feed and water the stupid fox every day!"

Sauske's eyes narrowed dangerously. "But. . ." He looked back at the Raccoon. ". . . _Naruto_. . ."

"Sauske." Naruto growled back. "Look, I didn't even know _**YOU**_ were in here until you grabbed me. I don't come here! This is my hell, my nightmare. I only come here when. . ." He grit his theeth. "When. . ."

"When you are out of options." Sauske stared at him with blood red eyes and a dead expression.

"You were drowning in. . . I don't even know what this is." He glowered at the black liquid.

"It's my 'pool of utter despair'." Naruto huffed, stung, he'd been ready to let it engulf him too. "And I never asked you to save me from it."

The look Sauske gave him was one of disgust. "I could shove you back in, if you'd like."

Maybe that was best, Naruto mused. He looked down at the shimmering void and what it had to offer. He'd been in pain and fear ever scene he'd returned from sand, and he'd only managed to hurt every one around him. Death. . . Maybe that would be best. . .

How could he have not known? How could he have not _looked_. It had been fear, real true all consuming fear that had kept him from facing what he'd thought was the fox. The only way the fox had been able to try and escape the torment at ALL was while he slept. Maybe it had been a sort of twisted cry for help from the nine tailed demon. Guilt washed through him again, thick and heavy.

Death. . . was it even an option? "Maybe you should toss me back in."

The Raccoon's snarling was echoing in the empty void of his own inner universe.

"If you die the fox dies with you, Naruto." Sauske was talking to him like he was a child again. Explaining in a half exasperated tone. "Then that beast will be free to do as it likes with every one with in a ten mile radius."

Naruto sighed. "So? You could run away, I know that's one thing you are good at."

Sasuke's eyes took on a new darkness that almost burned to look at. "I never _ran away_."

Naruto turned away from the eyes. "Why are you here Why not just. . .?" He fought for the right word. "Why not just escape the inevitable?"

For a moment Sauke continued to give him the slightly blank look, then his face hardened. He jabbed his thumb towards the cage. "I'm here to stop your little _infestation _from killing us all."

Naruto looked over at the Raccoon. It was snatching up shreds of Chakra, devouring them, replenishing it's lost supply. "He must have hidden in me when we revived Garra." He took a step forward, hand out stretched. "He's hiding from them."

"Akastuki?" Sauske asked, his voice dropping to a frosty level.

"Yeah." Naruto glanced back. "They killed Garra and, we thought, took his tailed beast."

"Obviously not." Sauske gave Naruto a hearty shove. "Stand back."

"What are you going to do?"

Sauske started to form hand signs. "It's tormenting the Fox, who's trapped and can't get away from it. That is what is causing all of this rage, at least, that's what's causing it right now. Not that you would know."

Naruto flinched back at the accusation in the words. "I've lost my temper before I had Raccoon." He said, trying to vindicate his lack of control now.

"Yes, so I have been told." More hand signs followed. Black thick chains erupted from the walls and floor of Naruto's inner world and flung them selves around the beast, dragging it way from the cage of the Fox. Raccoon snarled and thrashed desperately, it's panic palatable to Naruto, but it could not brake free. He swallowed hard the wash of fear that was running through him now.

"Hey, whoa, are you sealing it INSIDE OF ME?"

"No, Naruto." Sauske replied as if talking to a very young child. "I'm just making a barrier between it and the Fox. I don't have the chakra I'd need for that right now." The cahins tightened as the Raccoon was pulled farther and farther from the Fox. While it's panic flared Naruto felt his own subsiding. "Though I would have the chakra if I hadn't spent so much just trying to get here past all of your other pitiful problems."

Naruto frowned and watched as the two beasts chakras untangled and started to separate. The fox slammed up against the cage, enraged, growling and filled with raw furry. The Raccoon tossed it's self against the chains, but the more it leaped forward the stronger the chains became. It's own anger was feeding the binds that held it.

"Almost." Sauske whispered, his eyes focused.

The two broke apart and flung away from each-other. Raccoon slammed in to the far wall and the Fox stumbled back and sank down to the floor. His massive red body shuddered and he gasped.

The rage and the hate evaporated instantly from Naruto's mind, replaced by concern for the hulking behemoth slumped in his prison. "Kyubbi!" Naruto rushed to the cage, forgetting his nightmares in an instant, and pressed his body against the bars. "Hey, big guy, talk to me!"

The Fox's eyes rolled towards him and he growled. It was breathy and hollow.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Kyubbi. I had no idea!"

"Uchiha." He wheezed. "You have evil eyes, like Madura."

Sauske, looking some what winded by his own struggle to bind the one tailed beast, snorted. "I don't know who that is." He stepped up to the bars as well. "Besides that, what is evil to the eyes of a monster like you, may not be evil to thee likes of a human."

The Fox growled and lifted his head slowly. "There is an evil towards both our kind." He closed his eyes and lowered his head again, gasping, exhausted from his ordeal.

Naruto frowned and hesitantly reached in through the bars. He could not blame the fox for his resent troubles. The fox had tormented him, yes, but this had been all together different. Guilt washed over him as he touched the beats' nose. It felt like the nose of any other canine, uneven skin, some what damp but not too cold, and moved when he breathed.

"Hey, will you be all right?"

The Fox did not reply. From behind him Naruto could hear Raccoon snarling and trilling. He turned and looked, the beast was still fired up, fighting. It's chakra flared, now that it didn't have the Fox to engulf, and raced for Naruto's consciousness.

Narito's eyes widened as he realized even though the Fox was down, he was still in danger of being over come. "Sauske, you have to get out of here!"

Sauske dropped to his knees. ". . .Naruto. . ."

"OUT! NOW!" The rage slammed in to him again and he screamed.

…...

Sakura watched as the red chakra evaporated, leaving only the one yellow tail to lash. Sai held her close.

"What IS that?" She asked, gripping her shirt, afraid. She could feel her heart pounding.

"I'm not sure, but I think it's another tailed beast." He jumped back, his strong arms protecting.

"Another. . ."

_The whiskers lining his cheeks were fading. He was looking at her, looking with those glassy, narrow, pain filled eyes. Dark rings were forming around them as the blood continued to drain from his body. . . . She felt a roll of chakra flow from his prone form. It was edgy, and sharp, like little razor blades. She wondered if it might be the fox, but that monster's chakra was like bubbles, wasn't it?_

". . . Garra. . ."

_Yet the ears and tail were still flowing from it's body and the dark rings were still around it's eyes. Despite the apparent life flowing through the flesh and bone there were still no signs of Naruto. It was slowing now and acting much less frantic to eat. It grabbed another fish and brought it to the water's edge to wash it carefully. As it took a bite out of the fish's slimy belly it looked up at her with a hiss and those horrible, awful, ringed, dead eyes._

She curse her self. He's not taken the lesson to heart, the lesson to look underneath the underneath.

"I should have seen this." She whispered. "I DID see this. I just... how could I have. . .?"

"Sakura." His words were deep, filled with some undefinable emotion. She looked up in to his eyes. They were like field of stars, black and shining. "Normal people can't survive two tailed beasts in side of them. You would have never thought to even consider the possibility."

"Normal people." She looked back out over the rubble and the flames. IT was still raging. IT was still thrashing and charging.

_"Stay back!"_

_It crawled forward, teeth and claws bared. Lifting it's clawed hand it took a swiped at her leg, instinct and combat lessons washed over her and like a reflex she kicked. Her foot connected with his jaw and there was a bone crunching, stomach churning, snap. It flew back and howled in rage and pain._

_"Don't try to eat me!" She snapped._

_Looking back at her from where it had landed, on all fours, it shied away with a hiss._

IT had listened to her once before.

"Set me down."

"Sakura chan?"

"If you believe in Naruto, then can you believe in me as well?"

He studied her for a long moment, then nodded. "I can." Gently he lowered her to the ground. "I will be with you."

"Thank y. . ." The air around them exploded with chakra. A serpent, larger than any she had ever seen before, with the head of a man and a long black main, burst up from underground. It's hiss was infused with the scream of some thing that sounded human, yet not. Naruto, or rather the chakra enraged creature that had developed, turned towards the snake and bellowed out it's own roar. They sized each other up, titans ready to battle to the death.

The snake launched out first, it's fangs nearly three feet long, ready to stab and strike. The beast sprung, razor blade claws at the ready. They met, mid air, the beast ducking under the fangs and landing it;s claws in to the white skin. It's teeth, daggers of ivory, sunk deep in to the serpent's throat.

The snake thrashed and rolled, but the beast would not let go. In moments the two were rolling towards Sakura and Sai. Once more Sai scooped her up and leaped out of the way. In mid air he nearly collided with another dark haired teen.

"SAI MOVE!"

"SAUSKE?"

The narrowly avoided a crash and both landed unsteadily on crushed rocks and debris. Sakura rubbed her eyes and stared at the stony face of the Uchiha. The two monsters were still flailing bloody and battling behind them.

". . .Sauske. . ."

Sai tightened his grip. "What is that thing?" He demanded, nodding towards the behemoth snake.

"That is Orochimaru's true self." Sauske replied, nearly gasping. He dropped to his knee and sucked in a breath of air. "Naruto has two tailed beasts, just as you said he might."

"Were you able to bind the second?" Sai asked, eying Sauske's shaking body over.

"Not completely. It's loose and could leave his body at any time, but it can't fight with the Fox."

"I . . . I don't understand." Sakura wriggled her self free. "Sauske. . ." She looked between the two far skinned, black haired, team mates. "Some one tell me what's going on!"

"Get her out of here, Sai." Sauske stood again and pulled his blade out. In the back ground the huge snake riped it's self free and struck out again, only to be swatted away like a pest. "Theres nothing I can do to stop it."

Sai reached for her, but, angry, she shoved him back violently with a surge of chakraenflamed by the solder pills . He was sent flying and bounced a couple of feet before landing in a heap. Standing on her own power she stumbled up to Sauske. Lifting her hand she slapped him, hard. "THAT is for knocking me out and leaving me on a park bench alone!"

He glared as he rubbed his smarting skin. "Hey. . .!"

She slapped him again. "THAT IS FOR NARUTO! Do you have any IDEA what sort of torment he's been through worrying about you?"

"Sakura." Sai called from where he was untangling him self from the stone and plaster. "A more useful thing to do, at this time, would be to flee."

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. The giant snake was being thrown down not far from them, it's throat ripped from it's body. Strangled screams filled the air. It was loosing and loosing badly. They would be next, unless. . .

"Your right, Sai. But we can't just leave Naruto here alone." Looking back up at the vacant look Sauske was giving her she set her hands on her hips. "You are coming back with us just as soon as Naruto calms down."

"Itachi. . ."

"NO!" She stabbed him in the chest with her finger. "I _don't_ want to hear it!"

Sai was making his way back towards her, one arm dangling limp at his side. "Sakura, it's all right. He knows the truth."

She turned, glared and thrust her hand back on her hip. "What truth?"

Both teens started at her for a long moment, then glanced at each other. Secrets passed between them, secrets she didn't like. "_Boys!_"

"It's a long story." Sai finally said. Sauske only continued to stare.

Sakura wanted to press further, but a screaming hiss pulled all three of their attentions to the fight. Naruto had pinned the Serpent Sanin down and was ripping him apart. Whole chunks of flesh were bing pulled free and swallowed.

"He's _eating_ him." Sai wrinkled his nose.

Sauske, horrified beyond his devil-may-care persona, gaped. "He. . . he _is_."

Sakura growled and rubbed her temples. "Stay here_** both **_of you."

…...

Snake.

Some one was calling him, soft and sweet. He wanted to go back to her, back to where he was safe.

_NO! _Eat the Snake.

"Naruto?"

More. Eat more.

_**Pain**_.

"Naruto come on, I know you can hear me!"

Ignore the woman! EAT! Gorge. Devour. More!

"NARUTO UZAMAKI WAKE UP OR SO HELP ME I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!"

'_Wait wait . . . What in the __**hell**__ am I __**eating **__now?_'

He choked.

"Naruto!"

Sakura?

What was in his mouth this time? Snake?

_**SNAKE**_!

He retched.

"NARUTO!"

What was he eating? WHO was he eating? His stomach twisted and churned, excavating large chunks of the most unsavory half rotten meat he'd ever been privy to taste. Scales and hair were in his mouth. HAIR. Human hair!

This was worse than sushi.

"Naruto." Sakura's voice, strangely high and stricken, reached his ears. "Calm down." He felt her hand on his back and tried to focus on it, not on what was still rumbling in side of him. He spat, and spat again, still unable to get right of the flavor of his latest victim.

Massive amounts of chakra were radiating from his body. He had to focus to real it all in, to pull back the killing instinct. To keep from attacking her.

"Shh. It's OK now. Please, _please_, calm down."

"Sakura." he finally managed in a choking, heaving sort of plea. "I. . ." His stomach lurched again. "I ate him." Horror.

He was a monster. They had been right, all of those villagers had been right. They should have killed him when they had the chance, should have gutted him when he was to small to fight back.

Sakura rubbed soothing circles on his back. "It wasn't you, Naruto."

He wanted to believe her, but some how he couldn't push past the guilt. He'd wanted Orochimaru dead, yes, but he hadn't wanted to do _this_. "I'm a demon." He tried hard to sound level, like a ninja should, like his emotions were all squared away, but it came out as a whimper. Such vast horror. He didn't deserve the title Hokage. Monster, that was his brand, his title.

"Shh." She continued to rub. "Your stomach calmed down. I think what ever is making you go crazy absorbed what it made you eat."

"It's the Raccoon." He sat up a little and took a slow breath. The sentence was as hard to say as it was to stomach what he'd done. "Sauske was in my head, he chained it up but. . ." He felt a roll of queasy nausea and swallowed. " I _ATE _the **sanin**!"

She chuckled. "Believe it!"

He turned to her and _glared_. "That's not funny!"

"I'm sorry." Her smile was soft, her eyes were sorry. She was also very scantily clad. As a matter of fact so was he. He felt a blush creep in to his cheeks as he realized all that was between him and her was _her_ cloths. And a might few they were.

He curled up and pulled away. "Don't look at me I'm _**HIDEOUS**_!"

A dry yet easy laugh drifted over. "Your not hideous, you're _small_."

Naruto turned to face the approaching teen. Scratch that. Teens. His mind reeled.

"Sai! Sauske!" He pulled even tighter in to a small ball. Of all the dreams he'd had where he and Sauske came face to face again THIS was not how he imagined it. At the very least he been wearing pants, and he'd NEVER eaten anybody. He felt like he might throw up again.

Sauske looked down his nose at him, but there was far less contempt then there had been only a little while ago. "You can't do any thing with out some one else, can you?" He tugged off his dirty, yet whole, robe and tossed it down.

Naruto snatched it up and pulled it on quickly. "Th-thanks." It was all he could say. For the clooths, for pulling him from the darkness, for. . . every thing.

Sauske ignored him.

Sai was following suit and offering Sakura his shirt. It was to short and didn't cover as far down as it should have, but her predicament was less obvious than his.

"Thank you Sai." She tugged it on and stood on shaky legs. "Sauske. . ."

"I'm leaving." He said bluntly. "I have to find Itachi."

Naruto pulled his eyes off of the Uchiha before him. He didn't have what he needed to force Sauske back to the village, but he also wasn't as fearful for him any more. Some how he seemed different. "Are you still looking for revenge?" He asked, willing to forget his onwn problems just for the moment.

Sauske looked down at him and he looked up. Their eyes met and for the first time in a long, long, _long_ time, Naruto found just a flicker of real hope materialize in his heart.

"Sai has shown me that we have all been lied to. I wish to search out the truth."

"Truth." Naruto tried to stand, but his legs were like water. He dropped back down. Sakura and Sai rushed to his aid and lifted him up.

"What truth?" Sakura asked.

Sauske frowned, but said nothing.

Sai hung his head a little. "If he speaks the truth in front of me I will die."

Naruto gasped, aghast. "Die?"

"My thanks to Sai is to keep silent in his presence." Sauske turned slightly and looked out over the horizon. Naruto could see two deep burns on his back. "From here we will part ways."

"You are hurt."

"The curse mark will heal me, just as the Fox heals you." He said, his voice just a touch softer.

Naruto struggled forward, willing his legs to hold him up. He reached out and grabbed Sauske's wrist. "Tell me, tell me you will come home when you learn the truth!"

Sauske turned back to him and gave him a stony hard look. "If I return I will return as a missing nin. To go back would be suicide and we both know that."

"When you left every effort was made to bring you home the first day. You were never registered as a missing nin."

Saske started at him for a long moment, then at Sakura. "You are certain?"

"I'm the Hokage's aid, Sauske, you are labeled as 'taken' not missing." She smiled. "When you have learned the truth come back and tell it to us."

He turned away once more, eyes looking over the horizon. "If the truth is relevant to Itachi, I will return. If not then you may not see me again."

Naruto turned to Sai. "Is it relevant to Itachi?"

Sai thought for a long, hard moment, searching for a nonlethal reply. Finally he spoke slowly. "Is mine not bigger than yours?"

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" Naruto growled, to tired for riddles.. Sauske sighed, exasperated. Sakura chuckled.

"He means _yes_, dumb ass." Sauske started to walk off, pulling his wrist free as he went.

Naruto glared at Sai for a moment before his head snapped back to Sasuke. "Wait! If he means yes to the question I asked then it means yes the truth is relevant to Itachi and it means YES you'll come home!"

Sauske didn't turn around to look, but, after a small distance, he lifted one hand in a short, subdued, wave.

Naruto smiled, the mission had been a total success. The joy of knowing Sauske was SAVED lifted his spirits. Lifted the so high it felt like he was floating. In fact he couldn't feel any thing. At all.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked. He tried to answer, but the darkness overcame him once more. This time, however, it wasn't laced with despair.

* * *

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I'd like to add that Sai's memories were a VERY rushed after thought, but I am so PROUD of tossing them in and having them WORK like I had it planed the whole time that I had to share my Non-brilliance with you all. I'm not CLEVER, I'm just prone to experimetation. XD

Also the parts with Naruto and Co were supposed to be far more light hearted to counter the weight of Kakashi's confession, but that just didn't feel right. So I hope you can forgive me for yet ANOTHER depressing chapter!


	18. Or Be Killed

Ah.. yes.. it has been a little while, hasn't it? While I have no good excuse I do have a LONG chapter. This is the longest chapter I have written to date. As usual you can expect the same poor spelling, trite grammar mistakes, and lack of prppoer proofreading and editing. But I'l bet you are just glad I updated again, aren't you? *Grin*

Also, I have some things in the works I think you will like. As Fox And wolf follow Kakashi and Naruto, I don't have room for some of the other things I need to focus on in THIS story or I will risk bogging this one down completely. So expect at least one companion story with MUCH shorter instalments to start popping up along side this one. And it won't be as dark... mostly. XD And it will feature a cast that hasn;t gotten a lot of love from me. . . yet. . . but is talked about over and over in my story.

Who are they? You'll just have to guess!

Any way, I'll shut up now, you may start reading the story! As poorly written as it is!

* * *

**Chapter 17: To Be Killed**

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* * *

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_Are Good and Evil things we can define? If one man defines good as vengeance for the death of his family, even though his family was the first to shed blood, then what can he define as evil? To kill, for any reason, could be seen as both just and unjust, depending on who is killing, and who is being killed._

_The village lies in ruins and the nine tailed beast has been sealed in to a boy. Who brought this destruction to us? For what reason could they have done this? What do we do now with the child who will grow to learn of his grate power? Shall we kill him to save our selves from a crime that may never happen? Or do we spare him and choose to face the wrath that may never come?_

_Many villagers are crying for his death, but none request his life. If we protect a monster who has done no wrong, and punish those who are trying to protect the world from that very monster, as they have every right to, are we good, or are we evil? _

_This is a question I can not, and will not, try to answer._

_Third Hokage, Second Term_

* * *

Memories floated like a bad dream through Iruka's mind, he couldn't block them any more, memories off blond hair and an exuberant smile, of a deceleration of grandeur and so many laughable failures. Naruto had been filled with such high hopes. This world did not deserve to have him for as long as it did. The world would certainly fall apart now that he was gone. With his hopes and dream gone there was nothing to keep the village from ruin. This Iruka was sure of, whole heartedly.

Naruto had surpassed all of the other students that had ever stumbled through the academy doors. He'd managed in just one week to steel a forbidden scroll from the Third Hokage, master it's most advanced technique, and fight off a full grown adult. All with out the aid of the fox sealed with in him.

It was a tremendous loss.

Fuka dug through his mind, searching all of his memories like a pig rooting for food in the forest. He gorged on the knowledge Iruka had been so fervently blocking from him, gathering what ever he wanted to make his poison. Iruka couldn't muster the will to stop him. His goal was Kakashi, the man who had killed his own team mate.

Trash killing trash.

_"I'm worried about him." Naruto spoke with sad, soft, blue eyes. _

_"You are?" _

He'd been so angry, so horrified that some one would kill their own team mate, that he'd been ready to kill the Copy Cat Ninja him self. But he hadn't had all of the facts. All he'd wanted was to get Naruto away from what he knew was danger.

_"Naruto. . ." He gazed down and frowned. "Naruto, has Kakashi ever. . ." He stopped again._

_"What is it, Iruka sensei?"_

_"Have you ever been afraid of him?"_

All Iruka had ever seen was the cold mask and those two unfeeling eyes that searched the world like a hungry predator. Kakashi had never liked children, never been a child. He was known to be a heartless killer of young and old, man and child alike, for 'the good of the village'.

Iruka had been afraid of him. From the day he'd come back after the Fox attack. Those two cold eyes had taken in every thing and then turned to him, demanding an answer. Demanding to know what had happened and who he had to kill. Then, Kneeling before the bodies of his own family, all Iruka could see was that Kakashi didn't care for any living. All he wanted was a new mission, more blood, a never ending hunger for the fight. Iruka had been terrified of those eyes. The craven blood red, and the hollow brown of an open grave.

"_Has he ever tried to hurt any one on your team before?"_

Iruka wasn't even sure why the Copy Cat ninja been asked to take on Team Seven, by the Third Hokage, none the less. Every thing with in him had screamed that the Third had made a grave error. Kakashi had become a machine when Minato had died, and at that time all Iruka could for see was that Kakashi would take out his frustrations on Naruto for it.

Just like he him self had.

But over time the cold had faded, and the craven red had turned to passion, and the open grave of brown, to a well fertile soil for growth. Kakashi had softened and changed, from the killer, to the guardian.

Had that been the Third's intention? He'd seen the potential in Iruka and curbed his lust for power though violence. It was possible he'd also seen Kakashi's potential to love gain. He'd known, Iruka mused, that Kakashi would be willing to use what ever power he had to keep from loosing the son of his own sensei.

The power of the Sharingan.

_Fuka fingered the file under his arm. "Oh but Iruka-san, You just don't get it. Hatake has the Sharingan. With that he can control Naruto, force him to do what ever he thinks in necessary to protect the village. His ninja way is to protect. . ."_

Iruka took note of that and, despite his dark, broken hearted musings, realised a killer was on the loose and intent on taking out the only real protection Konoha had left from any other jinchuriki. Pulling him self together he tried to move past the feeling of utter helplessness. As the Paper Work Ninja it was his job, his duty to the village, to keep the secrets of the Hokage's and Sages just that, secrets.

Secrets like the forbidden clone technique from the Third Hokage.

Iruka stood in his strange prison of looking glass and water, and pressed against the barier to see out. They were in a hallway of the hospital. Fuka pressed his body up and Iruka could see the two Sanin pass, teary eyed and sown cast, unaware of the danger the Copy Cat ninja was now in. Iruka slammed his fists against the barrier, but it was a firm against his attempts to get out, as Fuka's attempts had been to get in to the memories.

Blocking had gone both ways, Iruka realised. He'd tried to see what was in the file the elders had given the impostor, but Fuka had blocked him. He'd blocked the true Paper Work Ninja from his most valuable resource, knowledge. Iruka _still_ didn't have all the facts.

What he did know was that Fuka was a thousand times more the killing machine than Kakashi had ever been. So much so that now he was going to kill Kakashi, and Iruka would get all of the blame.

There was a swell of some thing sweet in the air, like medicine, only more bitting and nauseating.

He slammed his fists in to the barrier again. He was powerless here, unable to do any thing but sift through his own memories. All the knowledge in the would couldn't help if you couldn't use it. That's what he'd tried to tell Naruto, all the way back then, when he'd taken the scroll...

The scroll of the forbidden cloner technique, that had belonged to the Third Hokage.

Iruka's eyes widened has he realised he'd read it. All of it, to make sure it had not been damaged, before returning it. He'd done so not in secret, but at the request of the old man him self. There was more to the scroll than simply making an army. . . _that_ had never been forbidden.

Iruka gazed through the liquid looking glass and saw they were in Kakashi's room. The duel eyed Copy Cat was laying unconscious, like a lamb to the slaughter, before Fuka. The contrast was stark. A shallow leering grin graced the face of Iruka's rouge body, while Kakashi's was drawn tight with grief, even while he slept.

He'd nearly died to protect Naruto, and not just this last week, but over and over again. He'd never been trash.

"_Those who disobey the rules are trash."_ He'd said once. _"But those who abandon their team mates are lower than trash."_

". . .Kakashi. . ."

_"Yes, it's the sharingan Kakashi used to stop that Akatsuki guy and suck up his explosion." Naruto said quickly, his fists clenched. "He saved us. That's how he ended up in the hospital. He was protecting us."_

_"Do you know how someone gets a Mangekyo Sharingan?"_

_"...No..."_

The only way to get such a powerful tool was to know pain, on such a level, that you feel like life is a curse, rather than a blessing. Despite the mask Iruka could see now, in contrast to the body looming over the Copy Cat ninja, the real pain of a shinobi.

Iruka had felt that pain too on the night of the attack. He would never forget it.

_"Iruka you are hurting me." Naruto twisted and pulled until he was out from between the desk and Iruka._

_"You stay away from him Naruto. He killed some one who was once on his team."_

_"Then he was the enemy!" _

Fuka pressed the needle in to the port, and sneered. "Sweet dreams, Hatake-san."

Iruka had read the forbidden scroll too. It showed how to make more than an army of chakra and mist, it showed the ultimate cloning technique. His fingers flew before the barrier, forming the right signs and seals, pulling as much chakra in to his efforts as he could.

Fuka started to depress the plunger, savouring the moment of victory. His icy grin spread wide.

The barrier before Iruka shattered in to a million shimmering fragments. The world shimmered wildly before the floor on the hospital room solidified under his feet. Through a fog of chakra and mist he felt the sun light on his back and the gentile breeze of the open window against his hair. He was a free, full bodied, flesh and blood, living clone.

…...

Inoichi exited the Hokage's tower after the elders. The sun was a little bright for his eyes. A head ache was forming again. He was having a lot of head aches as of late. He lifted his hand to rub away the ache and drooped one of the reports he'd been working on. He stiffly knelt to pick it up. Oddly, at the moment, he couldn't remember what it had been about.

The elders both stopped and watched him as he gathered it together. He stood again and smile d alittle, when the door burst open behind him. To his surprise Ino flew out, followed by Asuma, his team, and Shizune. The looks on their faces was troubeling.

"Ino?" He asked, catching her arm. "What's wrong sweet heart?"

"It's Iruka sensei, Daddy." She looked up, lower lip trembling. "And Naruto. . . and. . ."

Asuma came up behind her and frowned apolitically. "Forgive me, Inoichi, but we do not have time."

He stepped back away from his troubled daughter. She was a splendid ninja now, but still so very, very young. "I do not wish to interfere."

"I'll tell you every thing, Daddy." Ino promised, and they all ran off.

The elders came up to him. His head ache redoubled. " . . . Iruka. . .?"

"You should see if he needs help." One of them said firmly.

". . .Yes. . . help. . . Umino Iruka. . ."

…...

Sakura sank to her knees next to her fallen blond team mate in utter exhaustion. The image of Sasuke's small wave, and light irritation at Naruto, had brought her mind back to their early years as a team. She had shoved her memories of them all as far back in to her mind as she could. A deep, dark, part of her had stopped believing in the dream of them being one again. Naruto had never given up.

She started down at him and took a slow calming breath. All of the adrenalin from the fight was draining away, leaving her shaky and cold. The artificial boost she had gained from the solder pill Kabuto had given here was also fading. She was headed for a physical crash soon, but she refused to go down until she knew Naruto was safe.

He was gasping lightly in his sleep. His face was lined with tension and his fists were clenched lightly. If it was true that he had the Raccoon with in him then he should have been dead the moment it had entered him. He should have been dead at the bridge, and dead again in the lair.

She reached out with trembling fingers and stroked his blood smeared cheek. At the light touch his eyes slid open and he took a ragged breath. All of the chakra energy in the world did not make up for real rest. He was just as, if not more, exhausted than she was.

"Sa. . ku. . ra. . ." His eyes slid closed and he swallowed. "Did it."

"Yeah, we did it." She smiled and let her hand rest on his shoulder. "Is that thing really in there? The Raccoon?"

He nodded mutely.

"How is that possible?"

He shook his head. "Don't know."

Sai knelt down next to her and studied Naruto's face. "Can you move? It's not safe here. Orochimaru's experiments and minions are now free. We must hide."

Naruto took a deep breath and struggled to sit up. He made it to his elbows, but dropped back down. "I don't think I can." His eyes opened to thin slits and he forced a smile. "Sai. Thank you."

Sai frowned. "For what?"

"You saved our team." He closed his eyes. "I think I hated you. I'm sorry." He took a soft breath. ". . . sorry. . ." Once more his body went lax and his breathing evened out.

Sakura ran her fingers through his messy, dirty, hair. "He's right, with out you we would have never. . ." She felt tears start to build up in her eyes. "I mean Sauske. . . Nothing we said. . . He wouldn't listen to us."

Sai watched her with the frown still in place. "Naruto convinced me to take a personal Goal. I could not achieve my goal with out Showing Sasuke the truth."

She smiled and wiped her tears away. "What goal did you set for your self?"

"To kill Orochimaru. Or ensure his death, some how." He turned and looked up at the behemoth serpentine body sprawled before them. It's head was upside down and glassy black eyes looked at them with out seeing. The mouth was shut, but the lips were peeled in an angry looking silent snarl. Blood dripped from dagger like teeth and pooled around it's head.

Sakura took the scene in fully for the first time. Tsunade had oft spoken of the horrifying power Orochimaru possessed, and how it would take an army to kill him. Naruto was no army, but his power was beyond comprehension.

Sakura turned back to the blond. The blood smeared on his cheek was not his. "I don't think any one will have to worry about Orochimaru ever again."

"No." Sai smiled and stood. "My only goal has been satisfied."

Sakura looked up at him with her own smile. "You know, you can have more than one goal. . ." A small hiss interrupted her and she yelped as a small snake slithered over her hand.

Sai frowned and kicked it away. "The base is starting to be evacuated. "We need to move, now."

Sakura forced her self up on all fours, then tried to stand up, but she wobbled and fell like a new born calf. Once more she felt her exhaustion and let her head drop. "Take Naruto and come back for me."

"There is no need to leave you, Sakura." He put his hands together. "Let me carry you, I'll take Naruto with a clone."

She blinked back a dizzying wave of fatigue and nodded. "OK."

…...

Fukas eyes widened in mild shock as he looked Iruka over from one side of the bed while Iruka's own eyes narrowed dangerously from the other.

"Let the syringe go."

Fuka stood still, his thumb still on the plunger. "I can kill him before you can reach me. We both know that."

Iruka glared and pulled a kunai from it's holster on his hip. "And I can kill us both." He pressed it's tip to his throat. "I know what you are. You are every thing I've been trying to suppress for the last ten years. You want power and glory, every thing I wanted, every thing I craved."

"I don't want it, Iruka, I _have_ it. All I need to do is take it." Fuka sneered smugly and lifted the syringe and IV port a little. Iruka glowered darkly pressed the blade in to his skin, drawing a bead of blood from his flesh. They stared at each other, the Teacher and the Killer, locked in a vicious stalemate. Fuka's fingers twitched, daring, while Iruka stayed firm and steady.

For several moments the only sound in the room was Kakashi's harsh troubled breaths floating up between them.

"Let him go." Iruka growled. "With out Naruto you've lost what ever reason you had for wanting to get rid of the Sharingan."

Fuka grinned and empty grin. "You still don't understand, Iruka. Naruto may be gone, but the beast with in him is still there."

"The Fox died with it's Host. We both know that's what happens."

Fuka looked down at Kakashi and smirked. "It's not the Fox with in Naruto that interests me."

"There is nothing else. . ."

"There is." He stared at the scared eye that was shut so tight it looked like the Copy Cat ninja was grimacing in his sleep. "Naruto had more than one Beast in him."

Iruka scowled. "That's impossible!"

"Is it? For any one else yes. But for Naruto?" Fuka smiled, looking smug. "You are not the only one who can block memories." He held up the IV port and leaned back a little, confident, ready. "Hatake is still a threat to this Village, Iruka. Any who posses the Sharengan are a threat." He pressed down on the plunger again, slowly.

Iruka watched, horrified, as the toxic concoction started to drip in to Kakashi's body. Anger surged through him and he plunged the blade deeper in to his own throat. "Stop."

Fuka frowned and pulled his thumb back. "Don't fight me, Iruka, you are not strong enough to win a fight with me."

Iruka took a slow breath. "I don't have to win, all I have to do is save." With his free hand Iruka pulled a second Kunai out and tossed it while gouging the blade deep in to his skin. Fuka hissed in pain and grabbed his own throat as the second Kunai buried it's self in his shoulder. Stubbornly he was still gripping the Syringe.

Grunting past the pain in his neck Iruka reached out and snatched Fuka's hand in his left, while cocking his right hand back for a strike. Fuka twisted his hand to pull away, and lost his grip on the syringe. He could not twist free, however, and Iruka's fist slammed in to his face snapping his head back violently.

"I will not let you kill Naruto's Teacher." Iruka snarled. "I will not let you hurt one of his precious people!"

Fuka rolled his head back up and stared, mouth open to a slit, blood dripping from a slit in his lip. "You want to be the noble ninja Saratobi told you you could be, but we both know what he really wanted. He knows how powerful you are, Iruka. It was your body that took out two immortal Akastuki. He saw the danger in your passion and wanted to curb it."

Iruka struck him again, sending him sprawling. In an instant he was over him, looming, eyes dark. "He save me from a life of pain and misery!"

Fuka wiped the blood from his lips and smiled again, dimly, mockingly. His hair had come loose and his eyes were tinted with a flicker of blue. "He saved the village from a monster."

"I wasn't the monster! The Kyubii was. . ." Iruka bit the sentence off and took a heaving, angry, breath. "Now Naruto is dead. You are the monster. I thought I had killed you a long time ago."

"You can't kill a monster, Iruka, only seal it away."

Iruka stepped back and snatched the syringe from Kakashi's IV Port. "We'll see about that."

"Don't!"

Iruka stabbed his leg with the needle, injecting the vile liquid in to his own body. "Now neither of us can do any more damage."

Fuka stood and rolled his neck and jaw, making them pop and snap. "That poison was created to kill one sick man, not two well ones. It can't hurt us."

"We are not two, Fuka." Iruka said coldly. "We are one, and I am sick." he pulled the syringe out and dropped it to the floor. "Go to hell." He released the clone technique and Fuka dissolved in a cloud of mist and smoke. Taking a shaking breath Iruka turned back To Kakashi and sagged.

". . .Kakashi. . . I. . ." He pressed his palms in to his eyes and bit his lower lip. "I should have trusted you more. I'm sorry." There was little he could do to help the Copy Cat ninja, but, he realised, there was still more to do to keep Naruto's village safe. He had to expose what ever power it was that had formed Fuka, and make sure it was stopped before it could do any damage to any one else.

The sound of a dog barking in the hall sent a jolt of fear through Iruka. If he was to be discovered now then there would be no way he could search for the truth. He had little time any way. He was already feeling the effects of the poison, and the wound on his neck still stung.

He stepped back around the bed and glanced back. All of the blood he'd lost was gone, or little more than a ghost of a stain. The wound in his neck was smaller as well. His face hurt like he'd been hit, but not like he'd been hit that day.

When he and Fuka had re-merged the damage had spread out.

The dog barked again, closer. Iruka stepped up to the window and pulled him self up on to the sill. He gave Kakashi one more apologetic look before leaping out.

…...

The moment Sai set Sakura down in the abandoned hallway she felt her head dip. Sleep was tugging at her relentlessly, but she forced her head back up and searched Naruto out. The blond teen had not awoken once while he'd been moved. What was more worrying was that he was starting to sweat.

"Some thing is wrong with him." She said as Sai laid him down next to her.

"Fever." He said simply.

She pulled her self closer and set a hand on his exposed forehead. While he was warm, he was not burning up. "What happened to him after we were separated?"

Sai knelt down on the other Side of Naruto and gave her a flat, stern, look. "Do you have any chakra cleft in your body at all?"

". . .No. . ."

"I do not believe Naruto's life is in any immediate danger at the moment. You should focus of resting your body before attending to his."

"I'm a Medic. . ."

"Who can not heal with out chakra." He said flatly. "I will wake you if he needs urgent care. But at the moment you can not help him, and you know that."

She sighed and leaned her head back. He was right, there was nothing she could do for him, Still. . . "Please tell me what happened."

"While he was subdued Kabuto started to preform an Autopsy on his body."

"WHAT?" She jerked back up to a sitting position and stared at the pale faced teen kneeling next to her. "How extensive was it?"

Sai looked down at Naruto and drew a 'Y' over his chest, from his shouldered to his coaler bone, then down below his navel. "He was dissected as so, and most of the organs in his abdominal cavity were exposed. His intestines had been partly removed."

"Was he awake?" She managed, horrified. Images of Naruto laying helpless before the twisted Medic played like a grim movie in her mind.

"I pulled the blade from his head and he woke up, yes."

She swallowed a nauseating lump. "Did you close the wound up first?"

He shook his head 'no' grimly. "Naruto pulled him self back together. Literally speaking."

Swallowing anger and fear she looked again down at her blond team mate. His breathing was becoming a little unsteady as he slept, and the tension was still etched over his features. Dozens of medical conditions and problems relating to what had happened started to spring forth in her mind. "I need to examine him." She stretched out her hands, but Sai took them and pushed them back to her.

"You are not to touch him until you are rested." His voice was firm, it was an order. She stared defiantly at him, unwilling to back down.

"He's obviously developing an infection, or worse. . ."

"You will only hurt him further if you try to do any thing with out the proper chakra."

Looking back Down at Naruto she assessed his condition as best she could from where she was with out touching him. While he looked unwell he did not look like he was about to die. Not that she believed he could any way.

She sighed, relenting. He was right and, what was more, he was the only one who was in any shape to make a decision. She leaned back against the wall of the hallway and folded her arms. "OK, but you wake me up the moment he needs help."

"I will."

Leaning her head back she closed her eyes, but in the silence a question nagged her in the back of her mind. "Sai?"

"Yes?"

"I know you can't exactly talk about it, but is there any way you can tell me about what you told Sauske?"

"I don't think so." He said and stuck out his tongue for a moment, showing her the seal. "This prevents me from speaking of what I know."

Frustrated she scowled in to the dark. "Is there any other way you know how to communicate? The seal wouldn't affect your hands, right? I know a little sign language. . ."

"I know no other language than the spoken word. Even writing in my note book is tempered."

"Note book. . ." She sat up a little. "What about pictures?"

He tilted his head and stared at her. "What do yo mean?"

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Can you paint me a picture of the truth?"

For a moment he was silent, before nodding. "I can try."

…...

Shizune stumbled in to her office almost blind with tears. She had been half dragged there by Asuma's all mighty strong grip. Now as she looked all around her office she tried not to shake. Asuma took her by the elbows again and twisted her towards him. "Do you know where he went after here?"

Still numb from the shock of the devastating news her mind reeled before his overpowering intensity. "What?"

Ino pressed her self between them and shoved Asuma back. "Lady Shizune, do you know where Umino Iruka went after he came here?"

She shook her head. "N-no." Tears sprung to her eyes at the thought of him. He'd comforted her kindly when all she had was bad news.

Ino glanced back at Asuma, who was looming with a savage chakra radiating from his whole body. She shooed him back before turning fully to Shizune. "What's wrong?" She asked gently.

"You don't know?" She asked, looking around. Four faces hovered near hers, anxious.

"We have just come in from the field." Choji stepped up, looking concerned. "Did some thing bad happen?"

Shizune nodded. "Naruto. . ." She took a shuddering breath and forced her self to be calm. "He was killed on his mission. Sakura too."

It took a moment, but slowly each face registered the news like one would register a physical blow.

"S-Sakura? Ino asked. She sank back, her cheeks draining of blood. "No." She pulled her arms tight and turned, berrying her face in Shikamaru's chest. He wrapped his arms around her as he gazed with hollow eyes at Shizune.

"Dead?" He asked, echoing Ino's grief.

"No." Choji shook his head. "Not Naruto. He'll be back." He reached out and patted Ino's back. "Sakura too. There has to be a misunderstanding."

"But there isn't." Shizune dipped her head. "The ANBU mission leader reported it him self. He saw the bodies."

"Didn't happen." Choji said softly. "I want believe it till I see them my self."

". . .Choji." Asuma frowned. Choji looked up with tears in his eyes.

"I won't accept it."

The bearded team leader set his hand on his largest student's shoulders. "Shizune, I know right now is a bad time, considering, but we have GOT to find Iruka. Some thing is _wrong_ with him."

Shizune cleared her throat and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I know. He's been so stressed out. He was afraid for Naruto. When he learned Garra had been killed he was devastated. He's been so afraid. . ." She shook her head sadly as she remembered his half sane pleas for help in her office only a short time before. "Then when he learned Tsunade had sent him on a mission to intercept and Akatsuki Spy. . ." She looked up at Asuma. "How can any one take that?" Tears burned in her eyes again and she clutched her fists. "Iruka and Naruto are family! It's like he's lost his son!" She couldn't hold back the sob that bubbled up from her throat.

She felt strong, solid, hands grip her gently. "He's a danger, Shizune, to him self and others, because of this. . . stress." She looked up in to his eyes. "We have got to find him and we have got to do it now."

She swallowed hard and shook her head. "I don't _KNOW_ where he went."

"Was he called here to hear the news?" Shikamaru asked, his mind refocusing.

"No, he came here on his own, I don't know why." She replied. "He was so kind, he comforted me, rather than the other way around!"

"Is there any thing here that's amiss?" Shikamaru asked. "Any thing at all that would indicate his intentions."

"Amiss." She looked up at her supplies. Some of them had been moved. The actions had been careful, but hurried. Some boxes had been placed on the shelf wrong, others were clearly unsealed. "Some of my supplies are missing."

"What supplies?" Shikamaru pressed. "What can they be used for?"

Shizune forced her self to be calm, to think. "They could be used to treat a wide variety of conditions or. . ." Her heart chilled.

"Or?" Asuma half growled.

"Or they could be turned to poison."

Shikamaru and Asuma exchanged glanced. "What sort of poison?" The teen asked.

"It's hard to say, but the only way it could be administered is through injection."

Shikamaru closed his eyes as the sorted through the information. Choji meanwhile peeled Ino off of him and held her. Asuma sank back against the door frame and glared at the floor. "Who do we know that Iruka would consider a threat. . .Or. . . connected to Naruto. . .?

"Kakashi!" Choji's head snapped up. "He's in the hospital! Asuma sensei. . ."

Ino looked up as well, her face tight with mixed emotions. "In his state he could easily be killed."

"Go." Asuma ordered.

Shizune watched as the two disappeared. Shikamaru and Asuma turned and stared at her. "Tell us exactly what you have observed in Iruka." Asuma said darkly. "We think he's killed two Akastuki men, but hasn't reported it."

Shizune shook her head "No. . . Not Iruka, he's a desk worker. . ."

"Just tell us, lady Shizune, please." Shikamaru prompted.

She took a calming breath and nodded. "OK. . . just a little while ago. . ."

…...

Sakura's head started to dip as Sai worked on his canvas and soon she was curled up on the floor. Her fingers curling lightly around Naruto's elbow.

Sai paused in his painting and watched them as they slept. Strange echoes in his heart whispered from the past he'd buried long ago. He flipped from his current art project to the image of him and the woman known as Dove.

Mother. That's what Naruto had called her. Family. He didn't know what had happened to her, but she had been his family. Looking back at the two lying next to each other, siblings in war, he felt another smile form.

Steeling a moment to him self he turned to a blank page and quickly captured the moment in ink. This was a new truth, one he'd forgotten all those years ago.

Some thing tickled his arm and he glanced down. A thin little snake was flicking it's tongue in and out over him. Sai's brow lifted as he watched the slender creature test him. Then it's head lifted and their eyes met.

". . .masssster. . . gone. . ."

"Are you a threat?" Sai asked. The small snake flicked his tongue in and out over Naruto before slithering around Sai and looking him over again. "Sssssmellsss like masster." His tongue tickled Sai's arm. "New. . . masssssster."

Sai wasn't sure what to make of the snake, so he turned his attention back to his work. "Your master is dead."

"New massster smell like old massster." The snake curled up in Sai's lap and sat still.

"We fought." Sai finished his quick painting. "Our smells mingle."

The snake said nothing. It's body had gone peacefully limp.

…...

Kiba slammed the door to Kakashi's room open. Panting for air from his run he looked around for his target, but the only person in the room was the Copy Cat ninja. Akamaru forced his way past the teen's legs and sniffed the floor with a little growl. He looked up from near the bed and snorted. An empty syringe was on the floor. Kiba entered and picked it up. Worry gnawed at his gut as he examined it. "Akamaru, this wasn't filled with medicine, was it?"

The dog snorted again and hung his head.

Gnawing his lip Kiba stepped up to the bed where Kakashi lay frighteningly still. He reached out and pressed his fingers in to the ninja's neck and found a steady, strong pulse. Despite the discovery the man before him had the pallor of death and wreaked of some thing pungent and fowl. His breaths were coming in stilted gasps and his whole body was ridged and tense, even in his unconscious state.

"Akamaru, was he poisoned?" The dog tossed his paws up on the edge of the bed and sniffed the prone teacher over thoroughly. Kiba watched with bated breath.

"Well?"

The dog sniffed Kakashi over a second time before dropping back to the floor and answering with a long, unsure, whine.

"You don't know?" Kiba asked. His companion was usually able to pick out the most delicate of scents, even poisons.

Akamaru whined, then pawed at the sent of Iruka and yelped urgently. The pray, the fowl smelling, unstable, pray was fleeing. Akamaru pawed the ground again, urgently requesting the chase continue.

"I can't leave him, Akamaru. Not if we don't know if he's been poisoned. What if he stops breathing?" Kiba looked Kakashi over with dread. "I've heard a rumor he was almost dead already."

Akamaru barked and pawed the ground again. The pray. They needed to hunt it down. They would fail if they lost it.

"You go." Kiba said and pointed to the window. "Catch him, and bring him back. Try not to hurt him, but if he's willing to kill Kakashi Sensei then he is the enemy."

Akamaru barked and shoved his nose back to the tiles. He gave another low growl, displeased at the rank smell of murder and malevolence. Looking back up he pawed the ground one more time, asking Kiba to come with him.

"Follow him. I'll be there as soon as I can. I promise."

The dog waged his tail a little before trotting up to the window sill. He gave one strong bark, a promise to do as he was ordered, and turned his nose to the out side world.

"I know you will. I'll be right behind you. Good luck!"

Akamaru barked again and was gone.

…...

It was easy to ignore the snake at first, but when a second one had also declared Sai his master the teen had stood and moved to the other side of the sleeping duo. It was odd and unsettling to Sai, string memories he did not want stirred.

_A strong white hand snatched his and pulled him back. "What have we here? An artist?" Long black hair and cold yellow eyes blocked the sun's warmth. _

"_Let him go." The happy smile vanished. "You have no claim to him yet."_

_He looked between them and felt a chill race through his body. _

_A flash of black and a roll of paper shot out. Ink dragons leaped to life and struck out, only to be sliced down by the long haired man. The woman scowled, but backed away. _

_He was pulled back in to her warm arms, safe, away from the yellow eyes._

"_I will die before you take him from me."_

"_You will have to kill me, before you can make such a statement."_

"_Then I will do so or die trying."_

_The stranger was gone, but he still felt the chill in the air. _

"_Don't worry, one day you will be strong, you will be talented, and you will paint your own future." She hugged him and smiled again. Slowly he felt his own smile spread. _

"_Mama, who was that?"_

_The smile clouded for a moment and she looked away. "He's evil. Just remember, you are not like him, OK?"_

_He nodded stoutly. "Not like him."_

"_Good, remember that, OK?" She smiled again and he smiled with her. "You are who ever you want to be, no matter who you come from."_

The same chill raced through Sai as had all those years ago. He looked back down at the snakes that were following him. "I'm _not_ your master."

One warped it's elf around his leg. "Massster!"

"No. . ." It set it's head down and wet limp again.

"This massster good."

Sai sank down and poked the Sanke. "I'm not. . ."

"Massster!" It nestled it's head in to the folds of his pant legs.

"_You are who ever you want to be, no matter who you come from."_

Sai let his head fall back against the stone wall. He'd wondered why he'd been chosen to take this mission. Now, perhaps, he knew why. Another truth, one that he did not like. Absentmindedly he reached down and stroked the smooth scales.

"Fine. I am your new master." He glanced down. "Tell no one."

The snake did not reply. It too had fallen asleep.

…...

Iruka hurried down the back streets. They were dirty, damp, and smelled of rot and trash. He wanted to take to the roof tops, but his legs felt heavy. Every thing felt heavy. He couldn't stop, Akamaru was right on his trail. He barked, not that far behind.

He could fel Fuka thrashing from with in, fighting his meagre control and restraint. There was no anger, only a cold determination.

'_You can not keep me in here_.'

"You can not take me over." Iruka snapped in reply. He was angry, and exhausted. He felt his knees tremble with every step, and his chest tighten as the toxic mix spread through his body. The dog barked again, closer.

Iruka sped up, but his gate was an awkward halting one. He couldn't run any more, let alone flee the dog. Taking a blind corner he came to a dead end and searced franticly for a way put. A door, or a window, some thing. There was nothing.

A low, warning growl met his ears and he whipped around. Akamaru stood paws wide, fur razor sharp along the ridge of his back. He curled his lips and snarled again, then licked his fangs.

"Akamaru... Easy boy." Iruka took a shaking step back.

The dog curled it's lips again and took a slow step forward. Inhuman killing chakra filled the air.

Iruka backed up to the brick wall and pressed him self tight against it. If he could gather his reserves he could jump it, but fter that he'd be out of chakra completely. If he did so, however, Akamru would jump and be on him in a flash. He could try to out maneuver the dog, but with his shaking legs he doubted he could get around him.

The dog took another step, picking up on Iruka's fear and weakness. Eager hollow wolfish eyes locked on and the fangs dripped with drool.

"It's OK. It's me, Iruka." He held up his hands. "Please. I don't want to fight with you."

Akamaru barked savagely and took another couple of steps forward. Iruka swallowed hard, feeling a bubble of panic spring up. Slowly he took a step forward, hands out shaking, and tried again.

"Easy boy, there is no need to fight."

Akamaru's eyes narrowed at the movement and he charged forward. Iruka leaped back and hit the wall again. With a vicious snarl Akamaru leaped at him, his fangs exposed. Iruka brought his arms up to block, which Akamaru latched on to violently, digging his sharpened fangs in deep. Iruka yelped as the dog shook his head and thrashed, ripping at the arm mercilessly. There was no form or technique, only canine instinct. With out Kiba to coordinate his movements Akamaru was pure animal.

"Stop, Akamaru!" Iruka pleaded. He gripped the muzzle and pulled as hard as he could to unlatch the bite, but he had no strength left in his body. He could feel the flesh pulling sickeningly from the bone. He needed to get free, but couldn't bring him self to counter attack one of his student's pets lethally.

Iruka, having only fought with low class ninja and children, had no idea how to counter such an attack with out killing the dog out right. The struggle was daring what ever reserves he had left and he could not pry the teeth off. Desperately he rolled and pulled his arm with all he had left in him. For a moment the maneuver did nothing but infuriate the dog, but after a moment he loosen his grip just enough to let Iruka's arm rip free. His arm was in near tatters, but did not yet fully hurt. Iruka gripped the limb to stifle the flow of blood, and took his eyes off his savage opponent for a moment, hoping the fight was over.

Akamaru too the instant of distraction and lunged again, silently, aiming for the flesh of Iruka's throat.

This time Iruka's own instincts kicked in and he pulled a Kunai from it's holster with out thought. There was a moment where th dog seemed suspended in air, and it was in that moment Iruka got the blade between them. The animal came down, landing solidly on the weapon, and yelped in pain. The kunai was buried the full length of the blade in to his huge chest.

Iruka watched, horrified, as blood gushed out. He fell and staggered back with a whine, sliding off the tightly clutched blade, then collapsed and panted violently.

"Akamaru. . ."

Iruka got to his feet, shaking, and reached out, afraid for Kiba's beloved pet. Akamaru lifted his head with another low growl as he watched the offered hand. Fangs bared, he fought gravity and stood once more. Though wounded, he was not ready to give up the fight.

Iruka held the blade up between them and readied him self.

…...

"This massster good."

The floor under Naruto's back was hard. Dozens of points of pain radiated out and up through his body. His chest ached in a strange way, and his spine fizzled with strange energy.

"I'm not. . ."

Sai's voice. Naruto took a shallow breath and listened.

"Massster!" The other voice was soft and strange with a hissing lisp. The sound of a snake's voice. After the events of the day the sound sent a bolt of alarm though him, but the small adrenalin rush could not dispel his exhaustion enough to bring his body fully awake. Naruto shifted and felt unease rolling through the back of his mind. A horrible nightmare had played it's self out and, ironically, he did not want to wake up to face it.

"Fine. I am your new master." Sai's voice held a strange, unsure tone that was far different from what Naruto was used to hearing. "Tell no one."

He shifted again and opened his eyes, feeling that some thing could be very, very wrong. Laying peacefully next to him Sakura was sound asleep. He smiled a little, if she was there then the nightmare was over. He reached out and brushed the hair from her face, which took an amazing amount of energy to do. She slumbered on, to exhausted to wake up from such a light touch. They had both lived the nightmare, but it was over. Finally over.

Still, the sound of an unknown talking snake was a worrying thing.

Naruto peeled her fingers off of his arm and sat up slowly and painfully. He was in a dark hall, one of the still intact ones from Orochimaru's lair. It was quiet though. All evidence of life had been hushed. Turning stiffly he saw Sai, who was looking down at his lap with a curious expression. Naruto followed his gaze.

"Oi, Sai, Is that a snake in your pants or. . ." He bit the sentence off and winced as his mind sprung to all of those months traiing under the Perverted Sage.

"Naruto!" Sai looked up. "I am happy to see you awake."

Naruto scowled. "You are not supposed to finish that joke."

Sai looked confused at that. "Pardon me"

Naruto rubbed his temple wearily and sighed. "Never mind. What are we doing here?"

"Hiding from Orochimaru's experiments and creatures."

"A fine job of it we are doing." Naruto looked again at the limp snake draped over Sai's lap. "Why is it here?"

"It has declared me it's new master." He said simply.

"Why?"

Sai frowned a real, deep, heart felt, frown. "I believe Orichimaru was my father, there for it wishes to serve me."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"I said. . ."Sai started, but Naruto stopped him.

"No... I heard you." He rubbed his hands over his face. "This day just gets weirder and weirder." He pulled his ands down and looked wearily at Sai. "You are sure?"

"No, but. . ." He looked down at the snake. "It's the scenario the makes the most sense. The second most likely scenario is that I was perhaps a genetic experiment utilizing his sample DNA, much like captain Yamato."

Naruto stared at Sai for a moment, processing the accumulated information. His brain started with 'I have two tailed beasts', then hitched at 'Sasuke is free', and then finaly stopped dead at 'I just killed my new team mate's father'. He rubbed his face in his hands again. "I have not had enough sleep for this."

"Perhaps you should rest more." Sai suggested.

Naruto let his hands drop. As tierd as he was the training he had received from Jiraya, and more importantly Kakashi, was kicking in. Neither had any fondness for the serpent Sanin, and had warned him to never, ever, trust any one associated with him. He looked back at the snake who, to all appearances, looked to be sleeping soundly. "We have to get moving."

"We are to stay here until you and Sakura are recovered, and the aria is clear from danger."

"Where Orochimaru is concerned we'll never be safe." Naruto half growled. Images of the destruction during the Chunin exams flickered through his already taxed mind.

"He's dead now, Naruto, you killed him."

A second wash of unease flowed though him and he reached up with out thought to wipe his mouth. He still had a foul taste over his tongue and in the back of his throat from the incident. Looking up pat the pail faced teen Naruto noted Sai had traits that were like Orochimaru's. Most notable was his skin and hair color. But he had just as many dissimilar things about him as well. Unlike Orochimaru Sai's eyes had a touch of compassion, hidden away, yes, but Naruto could see it.

"So these snakes. . . they all what? They see you like they see him?" Naruto asked.

Sai looked down at the one sleeping in his lap. "Perhaps. But perhaps not all of them. Some may simply be trying to seek survival by aligning them selves with the winning factor." He quirked a brow as he studied the sleeping serpent. "While I do not believe any who call me master will show disloyalty or dissent it would be wise to, once we are sufficiently rested, search out any data logs remaining here on the serpents."

The multitude words swirled in Naruto's mind and fell apart before he could comprehend them. "What?"

Sai looked back up. "We should look them up and see what snakes we should trust, when we have rested."

"Good." Naruto laid back down. "So long as you think it's safe here."

"This is the most secure aria with in our limited range of mobility." Sai said. He then turned his focus on his art book.

"What are you painting?"

Sai did not look up as he spoke flatly. "Truth."

"Can I see it?"

…...

A dog was barking, but Tsunade took no heed. Each step she took required tremendous effort. One foot in front of the other. One shoe, then the other, then again... The hall was miles and miles long. It was silent, bright, yet hollow. Whisperes followed her, like ghosts, tagging along and swimming in her wake of shame and regret.

She was the Hokage. She had sent Naruto out to protect him in a mission that should have been easy. Her decision had cost him his life.

'One shoe before the other.', she told her self. 'Watch your step.' 'Be more careful.'

A largre hand found it's way to her back and she glanced up. Jiraya had his head lowered so far she doubted he could even see where he was going. She wondered if he was comforting her or seeking her guidance down the hall. There was no comfort she could glean from him now, not as she realized what she had done. She'd lost the Jinchuriki, and had endangered the entire village. All of the most capable ninja were out searching for Akastuki who were rumored dead. They were vulnerable to attack and defenseless against a tailed beast should one be unleashed upon them again. If Jiraya was looking for her guidance his hopes were misplaced, because she could barely see the hall her self. Let alone the next course of action to take.

And then there was Kakashi. His stubborn resistance in the face of reported brainwashing practices for ROOT had screamed danger. To late had she seen the truth, that what he'd been hiding was pain, not danger. He'd been keeping it all together for Naruto's sake, despite what he'd been through, and all she had done was undermine that on top of every thing else.

He wanted to return to ANBU, return to the numb of a Black Ops warrior. She would let him, but she was sure the Copy Cat would be dead with in the next six weeks. Single handedly she had crushed the strongest pillars of her village.

Her steps halted and she brought a hand to her swimming vision. It was hard to see, hard to breath, hard to think. . .

" . . . Tsunade. . . " Jiraya brought his chin to the top of her head and pulled her close. She wanted to pull away, no one should see a Hokage as weak, but she couldn't. He still had faith in her. He forgave her. She didn't deserve his forgiveness. But she couldn't pull her self out of it.

"Lets get back to the tower." He whispered in her ear. She nodded against his chest.

Another step, only her vision was filled with water. Like a fishbowl, her head was spinning and the world was off balance. She stumbled a little, but he was holding her firm. A rock, a pillar. He should have been the Hokage.

She took another, unsteady step, and saw a blur of dark rush her. Before she could move Shizune slammed in to her at full speed! They crashed back in to the wall. The impact was so hard the stiff plaster shattered around them.

"Tsunade!" Jiraya yelped.

She scrambled out from under her assistant, shocked and shaking. "Shizune?"

Asuma was there in a blink, pulling Shizune to her feet. As soon as she was upright he turned to Tsunade. "Have you seen Umino Iruka or Kiba and Akamaru?"

Tsunade shook her head. She'd only been focused on her walking, not on any other part of the living world. Asuma scowled at her. "Nothing."

"I think there was a dog barking." Jiraya said after some thoguht.

Asuma's students glanced at each other. "This way." Ino said flatly, and pulled Choji with her. "He'd definitely after Kakashi sensei!"

Tsunade stared after the two teens as they raced through the hall. "Who's after Kakshi?"

Shikamaru glanced around at every one and sighed. "It's a very long story. But. . ."

Shizune stepped in front of him. "Lady Tsunade, please come with me, I will tell you on the way." She grabbed Tsunade's wrist firmly and started to pull. The danger in her chakra pulled some of Tsunade's scenes back together and she found she could focus a little again.

Jiraya started to follow, but Asuma stopped him. "Please, hear Shikamaru out, Jiraya sensei."

…...

Naruto watched as Sai scooped the serpent up from his lap and set it over a pile of broken wall. The dark haired teen then made his way over and presented his art book. Naruto reached up and took it carefully. Nine figures were presented, each with numbered tails flowing from them. Naruto sat back up and looked up at Sai.

"Are these Jinchuriki?

Sai settled back on his heals and folded his arms behind his back. A flat blank look was all the response Naruto got.

"You can't tell me any thing, can you?"

"Sakura said a picture is worth a thousand words." Sai replied. "This is as close to a clear representation of the truth as I can manage at this time."

Naruto tuned his attention back to the people on the page. Nine were there, with the tailed of the beasts. His focus snapped to the nine tailed beast, but it wasn't him. A woman was in his place with short hair and boxy cheek markings. He glanced up at the one tailed and gasped. The cold ringed eyes of Itachi met his.

"Sai. . . who. . . I don't understand."

"There is no more I can give you. This is the truth as I can tell it to you."

"But you gave it to Sauske." He looked back down at the picture of Itachi.

"He took it." Sai replied flatly.

"Took it." Saske had entered Naruto's mind and showed him the One Tail. The Sharingan allowed an Uchiha to do what an Inochi could not. "And some how this is why after three years he gave up revenge." He looked back up at Sai.

Sai shifted where he stood, but again said nothing.

Frustrated Naruto looked down again at the painting and studied the faces. The woman who suposedly had the Fox seemed hauntingly familiar, like he'd seen her face before, but he couldn't place it. In fact a couple of the faces looked familiar. He squinted in the dim light as he relized he recognized the face of the two tailed beast as well.

"This woman looks like the one you painted of your mother." He flipped through the pages and saw that yes, this woman was the same as Sai's mother. "This is just... I don't even know what to make of all this."

Sai reached for his book back. "Please tell no one you have seen this. If you do my life may be come jeopardized."

Naruto nodded grimly. "I promise."

Sai returned to his seat and sat back down. Again he started painting on a new page.

"What are you painting now?" Naruto asked.

"What I have witnessed here in the last twenty four hours." He glanced up. "You should rest."

Naruto laid back once more and sighed. His mind was now far to overloaded with information to process in any way. Maybe latter, when they were home, but right now there was nothing he could grasp.

More troubling was the internal rumblings of anger and panic that were again swelling inside of him.

…...

Kiba could do nothing but stand anxiously next to Kakashi. He watched with bated breath every time Kakashi struggled for air. It was clear the silver-haired ninja was deathly ill, but he seemed strong too. Kiba didn't like the stench of distress rolling off the milky white skin, or the way the muscles twitched under the sheets. It looked as if the Copy Cat Ninja was fighting some one in his unshakable sleep.

Kakashi took one agonizingly slow shallow breath and held it. Kiba held his breath too as he waited for the Junin to let it out. Silence filled every speck of room in the enclosed space. White and stiff and hollow. Kiba was ready to scream. Still Kakashi held tight, then, with a hiss he let go.

Kiba gasped and hung his head a little.

He was just relaxing, hoping that Kakashi would be OK with out the vigelence, when the door slamed open with incredible force.

"IN HERE!""

The teen jumped and only just barely managed not to scream. "Ino?"

She rushed up to Kakashi and pulled his chart from it's pocket at the side of the bed. Choji entered after her and rushed as well to the bed's side. As she read the file Choji gazed down at Kakashi with wide eyes.

"He does NOT look well."

Kiba, shaking just a little, scowled. "No, he does not." Turning to Ino he asked, "Well?"

"I don't know yet." She set the chart aside and started to examin the man over. "Was Iruka here, do you know if he did any thing?"

Kiba held up the syringe. "Found this on the floor. Doesn't smell like medicine to me."

She took it and held it up in the light. "Matching sent on Kakashi?"

Kiba shook his head and growled lightly. "I couldn't smell it on him, but on the IV thing it's pretty strong." He pointed to the port with a stab of his finger. "Naruto is going to be so freaking pissed off."

Both Choji and Ino gave him a sad look.

"What?"

Choji sighed and scuffed his feet on the floor. "I'm not sure how to tell you this, but, we lost him and Sakura on their last mission."

Kiba shook his head, the information didn't make sence. "What do you mean lost him? Like... We need a search party?"

"No." Choji reached up and wiped at his eyes. "No he's gone as in. . ." He choked for a moment, cleared his throat, and rubbed his eyes again. Kiba stared, feeling wave after wave of doom rolling from the over sided teen. Choji cleared his throat again and took a breath before looking back up. "No. Not that kind of lost."

Kiba felt his stomach roll and he tore his eyes off Choji. Looking at Ino he waited for her to confirm or deny the report. She frowned, deeply, and took her own shaking breath.

"Kiba, will you please help me figure out if Kakashi has been poisoned? If he has time is of the essence as we don't have a poison expert on staff at the moment."

Kiba nodded, feeling the worry he'd had before turn to numb. "Akamaru. . ."

"I'll help him." Choji said quickly. He brushed past Kiba and walked up to the window. "Do what you can for Kakashi sensei, Ino!"

She nodded and griped the chart tight. "I won't let Team seven down." She replied thickly.

Kiba swallowed the news bitterly and turned his focus back on to Kakashi. He couldn't get the stench of distress out of his nose. It made him ill.

…...

Iruka braced him self as Akamaru leaped again. The dog latched on to his good arm, but his teeth couldn't bite down enough to break the skin this time. He growled, but it sounded breathy.

Iruka slammed the blade down in to the dog's side, sinking it in deep a second time. Akamaru yelped and staggered back again. He took another charge stance, but could only manage a fast stager before dropping to the ground heavily.

As the dog wheezed and scratched at the hard backed earth to regain his footing Iruka stepped back and slumped against the brick wall. A large puddle of red was spreading under the mess of matted fur and bloodied fangs.

"Stay still, Akamaru, you'll bleed to death." Iruka begged. "Just stay still!"

Akamaru picked him self up on his front paws, tried to get his back feet under him, but fell once more. This time he went limp and wheezed out one loud breath. Iruka shuddered as he realized Akamaru was no longer breathing. Still, with his arms in shreds, and his body feeling like it was made of jelly, he could not move him self forward to check to see if Akamaru was still alive.

Instead he sank down to the dirt him self and took his own shaking breaths. He reached up and ran his hand over his head, and found his hair had come loose again in the fight. He was covered in blood, bright red and incriminating. He had to move. He had to go.

Standing was an effort. Fuka was urging him to run while he could, but his heart ached for the dog. Taking pained steps towards Akakmaru he stepped up to the hound and peered down at him. His face looked back up from the red puddle.

"It's just a dog, Iruka, let it go." Fuka said flatly.

"It's Kiba's dog." Iruka's voice was shaking.

"It's dead. It's no one's dog." Fuka smiled his flat smile. "He attacked you. It's not your fault, and no one will believe you wanted to hurt him." He shook the messy hair out of his face in the reflection. "Now move, before we are spotted."

Iruka stepped back away from the furry body. Looking around he could see small cracks in the brick wall. He could climb it without using what little precious energy he had left to do so. He could still escape.

He could still bring down who ever was responsible for his state of mind.

He stepped up to the wall and reached out with his good hand. He'd be in pain soon, but he didn't feel it yet. As soon as he was away he's wrap his arm. He'd go home, tread his wounds. He'd flee after that, leave the city. He'd come back, in the night, and search every scrap of paper with in the walls.

The paper work ninja was going to hunt down and kill the man who had turned him in to a weapon.

"Freeze, Iruka, Sense."

Iruka turned, slowly, and saw one of his precious students kneeling next to Akamaru's body. Tears of grief and rage were streaming down his cheeks.

"Choji. . ."

"How could you?" He stood, visibly shaking with rage. "How _could_ you?"

…...

Inside of his own mind was a place Naruto had been avoiding for a long, long time. Now he stepped hesitantly up to the dark damp place where formerly only the Fox resided.

A deep, inhuman, rumble, drifted up and out from the blackness. Two burning red eyes focused on him from the sealed cage. Hate and rage flowed from behind the bars, a storm of malevolence. A second set of eyes from the other side of his inner room, the color of stolen gold and honey, focused on him as well. Adding to the rumble was a fearful hiss.

Naruto stepped hesitantly in to the dark room and braced him self against the two very different sets of emotions. Fear to the point of panic. Anger to the point of mindless wrath. The Fox rumbled again.

Looking up at his life long tormentor Naruto could tell, even from his distance, that the beast was deeply wounded. There was no blood, but there were lacerations all along his body. Chackra bled out thickly and hung in the air all about the cage. The Raccoon too was wounded. His smaller frame shook as he watched Naruto from his corner. From his body chackra bled out as well. Razor sharp, like saffron blades, that sliced their way through the Fox's crimson bubbles.

Naruto took an unsure step towards the center of his inner world, mindful that both were watching him closely. With the Fox, he was well acquainted, and knew the beast's rage against him would be full now. He felt strangely responsible for the Nine Tailed Beast, and wanted to kick him self for not knowing sooner.

The Raccoon however was all together some thing new. Wading through the two blended chakras Naruto approached the Raccoon slowly. There was nothing between them, no seal to keep the beast from consuming Naruto whole. The Raccoon reared up and snarled.

"Easy." Naruto said slowly, holding his hands up passively. "Just take it easy."

The gold eyes widened and panic started to kick up.

"I don't want to hurt you." Naruto glanced over his shoulder at the Fox. "Either of you."

…...

Ino's eyes flicked from the report, back to the prone man on the bed, over and over for nearly a full minute. "You are sure?"

"I do not smell poison in his system." Kiba gripped the sheets tight.

All he could see was Kakashi and Naruto training, working hard to fulfill Naruto's promise to become the next Hokage. He could hear Naruto's laughter and greetings, and his demand for Raman. He replayed all the times in class when the blond would pull a prank on some one, usually Iruka. The dark haired teacher had hated him.

Some how Naruto had changed that.

"Did Iruka know?"

Ino looked up. "What?"

"Did Iruka know about Naruto?"

"Yes." She set the chart's aside. "It looks like Kakashi is only sedated."

Kiba stared at the man, and wondered very briefly why he would be drugged, but his mind was pulled back to Akamaru. The keen nose of the dog had not been able to tell if he'd been poisoned, this explained why. Good drugs and bad drugs were hard to distinguish some times.

"I have to go help Akamaru."

Ino nodded. "Thanks for your help."

Kiba looked up in to her shaded eyes. Very small tears were falling one by one, but it was the only out ward show if her feelings. He reached out and rubbed one cheek dry. She sniffled, but did not look at him. Pulling his hand away he stepped around the bed and left through the window. Akakaru's sent was thick, and easy to follow. He didn't look back.

…...

Naruto pressed on, closing the gap between him and the Raccoon. The closer he got the more clearly he could see the damage that had been done. While there were a multitude of bites from the Fox's strong jaws, there were also cuts that looked like they had been done with a knife.

The Raccoon backed up farther and hissed again. He pressed him self tight in to the corner and bunched up in to as small a ball as he could manage.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Naruto said softly. "No one is going to hurt you." He gave the Fox a quick glance. "No one."

From his cage the Nine Tailed Beast narrowed his blood red eyes.

…...

Choji lifted his tightly gripped fists and glared. "We _trusted_ you!"

Iruak backed up to the wall and pressed him self tightly against it. Trapped. Trapped with an alternate personality, trapped with the body of a dog he had killed. Trapped with an enraged teenager. His body was giving out and his mind was being chipped away at from inside. He felt the brick under his good hand. It was rough and dry, like his throat.

"Choji, please. . . listen to me. . ."

The teen's face contorted in to an ugly mask of hatred. "We trusted you." He said again, steady, level, cold.

He'd been a good student. While he'd been far to obsessed over food he'd done very well in every other way. He'd mastered all of the basics, and managed to tackle some of the advanced teachings early on. Now Iruka watched with a mix of awe and fear as the anger was replaced by a lethal calm.

"I will take you to the Hokage." He said flatly. "From there I hope she makes sure you can never hurt one of us again."

Iruka licked his dry lips. "It wasn't my fault. . ."

Choji wasn't listening, instead he was making hand signs. As his chakra flared Iruka gathered the last of his and lifted his hand up.

"Choji don't!"

The teen charged, heavy, slow. He'd never listened, he'd never taken it easy on the food. Iruka got his arm between them just as Choji slammed down full force. A blasy of energy shot from Iruka's palm as Choji let out his own attack. The two Chakra's mixed, before all of it followed the more disciplined charge Iruka had set off. The whole of the combined attacks shot through Choji's chest, and rebounded with in his ribs.

For a moment the two locked eyes and the world stilled. The teen coughed, and, with a gasp, slumped heavily against Iruka's chest. Iruka watched as the light started to fade from his former student's eyes.

"Choji!" He reached up to suport him with both arms as the young ninja began to fall. They went down together, Choji landing on his back, while Iruka fellt o kneeling beside him. Reaching out Iruka felt for Choji's pulse. There was none. The light was fading, _fading_ . . . This was not like killing a dog.

He shrank back, back away, back where it was dark. Back back. . . Fuka. . . the other one rushed forward and took over.

Iruka cried out, but no sound escaped his lips.

…...

Naruto wasn't sure how close he wanted to get to the One Tailed Beast, but he did know the closer he got, the more the chakra based animal seemed to e afraid of him. When he was only two arm lengths away he stopped.

The Raccoon licked his teeth and swallowed nervously.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." Naruto said again. "I just want to know why you are here."

A low growl rumbled up from the golden throat.

"Can you talk?"

The Raccoon stared mutely, then growled again. Naruto backed away, calmly, or as calmly as he could with the two sets of negative feelings rushing with in him. Now that they weren't fighting, how ever, the feelings were passing through his mind, rather than catching and infecting him. They were still hard to ignore, but at least he knew where they were coming from.

It made it just a little more easy to block, but not by much.

He turned away from the Raccoon, giving the beast his back. If the One Tail was going to attack him, now would be the time to do it, but instead the smaller creature relaxed a little and some of the panic died down.

Naruto turned his full attention on the Fox. Their eyes met, the warm blue searching out the ice cold red.

"Hey. . ."

The Fox glared.

". . . I'm sorry."

Chakra flared, anger beyond words engulfed them both, But Naruto focused on the guilt, rather than the rage. They were no longer blurry smears that blended in with each other, but individual feelings he could pick out. He latched on to his own and clung, even though they were not pleasant.

When the wave of rage died down he opened his eyes and looked back up. The Fox rumbled again and looked up at the ragged seal. His inhuman lips turned up ever so slightly.

The whole thing was ready to fall apart at any time. The fight had torn it to near shreds.

The cold fire refocused on Naruto. This time the anger that washed over him was mixed with a hunger. Blood lust, pure and evil.

"Soon." His voice was like thunder on distant mountains.

…...

Shizune glanced back at Tsunade, who was sill listening. "And thats when we ran in to you and Jiraya sensei."

The Hokage's face was a mix of calm and cold terror. "All of this... It's my fault."

"No, it's Orochimaru's fault." Shizune replied. She glanced at the numbers on the doors as she ran. They were almost to the room.

Tsunade's eyes were again at the floor. "I should have never. . ."

Shizune tightened her grip on the older woman's wrist. "If you start second guessing your self now, you will undo any good you have done for the village. We'll need you strong now more than ever before."

"You should have been Hokage, or Jiraya or. . ."

They arrived at the door where Shizune stopped. She gave the wrist a small shake. "But they aren't. You are. Please, put your position aside for a moment and remember you are also medical ninja. Kakashi may need you now."

Tsunade looked up and set her jaw. "I nearly killed him already."

"So fix that mistake now."

Tsunade nodded gravely. They were both pushing the emotions back as hard as they could, but Shizune felt on the edge of tears all over again. Tsunade's face changed in to a wall of solid stone, ready looking, a mask of confidence.

"OK."

Shizune opened the door and was a little relived when the only two people she saw was Ino and Kakashi. The jounin had a deathly ill look to him, but Ino's lack of action was reasuring.

"Report!" Tsunade snapped.

Ino jumped a little, and devulged all she knew. While she spoke in clipped, unsteady tones, and Tsunade listened to every word, Shizune took the opportunity to look Kakashi over her self. The last time she'd seen him he'd not looked much better than he did now. She wondered sadly if he'd get better with out Naruto around.

Tsunade's voice broke her musings before they could again bring her to tears. "You are right, I detect no poison in his system what so ever."

"Still. . ." Ino said as she lifted a syringe, "We found this."

Shizune looked up at the empty device and frowned as Stunade took it. "If it's not in Kakashi's system, then where did it go?"

A lump formed in Shizune's gut. Iruka had been so calm, so gentle, so. . . unaffected. He'd been detached. The events of the last couple of days played through her mind like a horrid picture show. He'd been crazed looking when he was reading in his office, and the shampoo in his hair. . . then he'd been so different, yet the same. He'd told her he didn't feel like him self. . . he was afraid, seeing things in the mirror...

The stress had to be over whelming. How? How could any one take the loss of their son?

"I think I know where it went." Shizune said with a new lump in her throat.

…..

Naruto took a slow breath. As glad as he was for Sasuke he had no disillusions that things were in any way better. If any thing the 'Truth', what ever that was, meant some thing a whole lot more than just the loss of a team mate.

Two beasts... nine people... The woman who was supposed to have the Fox. . . And Itachi. Naruto was to tired to try and sort it all. He doubted he could find the answer even if he was fully rested. He wished Sauske had stayed, just for a while. He could have entered Naruto's mind again and told him every thing, but he'd left. Not even staying long enough to rest.

He was _obsessed_.

The Sharingan Sasuke possessed had been the only means to clarify the problems of the nightmares, and now with out it Naruto wondered if any thing could be done to help him. The seal was in tatters and there was nothing he could do for it alone.

Dispare was welling up inside of him until he remembered there was still one who had the Sharingan. One who had helped him already.

"Kakashi."

The fox tilted his head ever so slightly.

Naruto grinned and stared up at the Fox. "Kakashi can help me fix that seal. I know he can!"

The Fox growled and glowered from behind the bars of the cage. "I will _kill him_ if he enters here."

…...

Choji tried to lock his knees to keep from falling, but his body was eerily unresponsive. He took in a ragged breath and watched as Iruka's expression went from hardened instinct to complete shock. The teacher's arms went from iron hard, to soft and supportive.

"Cho. . . Choji. . ."

They went down together. Choji could do nothing to break his own fall, but Iruka guided him to the ground gently. His eyes were brimming with tears and filled, filled and overflowing, with pain. Flecks of blue were swimming in the brown irises. There was blue in his eyes. Strange, Choji thought. Iruka had never shown blue in his eyes before. Blue and pain.

No, he didn't kill Akamaru. It wasn't Iruka's fault. Some other thing had happened. Choji forgave him. There had to be a good explanation.

Soft shaking fingers touched his neck. Fear sprung up in the brown and blue, drowning out the pain. For a moment Choji saw endless rolls of horror in those soft eyes. Then in an instant his face went blank. Choji watched as Iruka seemed to vanish, while still being there in front of him. A moment later a flat, dull, frown replaced the fear and pain. This was not Iruka.

This is what killed poor, sweet, Akamaru. This is the killer they had been chasing in the woods. He had to tell Asuma. He had to tell them that Iruka needed help.

The whole world was growing dark. He had to tell Asuma.

The world was almost black. He felt the void opening up, swallowing him whole. "What are you?" Choji asked, he could hardly breath.

The blue eyes stared down, still damp with tears "I'm. . . sorry."

…...

"You can try, but I won't let you. I promise you that!" Naruto gripped the bars of the cage and glared up at his companion and tormentor. "We'll lock that seal up so tight you'll NEVER make another move unless I say you can!" He took a shaking breath. All of the stress from the last few days started to bubble up and leak out, like an infected wound lanced.

It hurt, and it felt better. Finally, he had an answer, a solution. He could end the nightmares and the suffering.

"Do you honestly thing you can stop me?" The fox asked, almost amused.

"I don't _think_, fur-ball, I _know_."

…...

"I'm. . . sorry."

Fuka watched as Choji's eyes glassed over. As one last breath rattled out from the over sized teen he rand his hand through his hair and glanced at his ripped up arm. It would be a hindrance for some time if left untreated. He had to hide the body if he could, but Choji would be too heavy to move while he was in this condition. Looking back down he realized he'd have to cut the body up. He'd take the limbs first and leave the head on the torso.

A shadow loomed over him for a moment before Inoich jumped down next to Akamaru's body. Fuka gave him a quick searching glance. The blond man looked over the scene with lifeless dull eyes. He knelt and felt for a pulse in the dog, then twisted him to examine the two wounds. He spotted the kunai still burred between the dog's ribs and gave it an experimental tug, but it was jammed tightly in to the bone. Standing again he wiped his soiled hands on his over coat and looked down at Fuka.

"Do you need assistance here?" he asked dully.

Fuka looked back down at Choji. "No. Leave. I'll meet up with you once the scene is secure. I don't want you incriminated with Iruka." He pulled a blade from his pouch decided to start with the right leg.

"Are you going to dismantle the Akimichi boy's corpse?"

"Yes, it will be faster to hide if it's in pieces." He glanced up at the tall blond man. "Go, I will catch up some time tonight."

Inoichi nodded once and disappeared.

Fuka turned his attention back to the leg. It wouldn't be too hard to sever, it was mostly fat any way, soft to cut. The bone would be a little difficult to pry loose, but it couldn't be avoided.

If they found the body, either body, then the chance of reaching his goal would be lost. He still needed to find the One tailed beast and corral it. No one could stand in his way.

He cut through the fabric of Choji's pants and held the blade to the flesh. Even moving the youth in chunks would not be easy. He was heavy every where. Just as the blade touched the skin he heard foot steps approaching.

Standing he put the blade away and listened. The person was coming directly for them.

"Akakmaru?" Kiba's voice rang out.

The opportunity to hide what had happened here was gone. With a weary sigh he turned to the wall and pulled him self over. Kiba, he hoped, would be delayed by the discovery of the bodies, and allow time for an escape. If not. . .

Fuka hurried, despite the physical deterioration that was now eating away at every fiber of his body. The more distance between him and the approaching teen the better his odds were.

…...

The Fox laughed, like the crack of thunder over head, of the roar of a full force storm. "I will kill your teacher and you will watch as I do so!"

Naruto gripped the bars tighter and felt a surge of his own anger, different from the raw rage inside the Fox. Hot, yet deeply cold at the same time. "I swear I'll protect him from you."

…...

The smell of canine blood was saturating the air. Silence was a deafening roar. "AKAMARU?" Kiba shoved every ounce of energy in to his run. He should have gone with him. He should have stayed with his brother.

Brother, so many people sneered at the Inuzuka clan for believing in kinship with dogs. They didn't understand.

"AKAMARU!" What wasn't he answering? "CHOJI?"

Silence. He turned a corner in to a dead ally. The blood smell stopped him in his tracks. Anger and fear leached from the air like fog. He choked and stumbled back, eyes burning. A flash of red swam in his vision. He took a calming breath from where he stood, down wind, yet not engulfed. He was numb. How could Naruto be dead? Wasn't he a jinchuriki?

Ino's grief had been so real. But he couldn't feel it. Not with out Akamru to whine beside him, to show him how to react. Dogs could feel so much more keenly than people, and could lead a person to the right path of laughter, of sorrow, of just being.

How could Naruto be dead? And Sakura? It wouldn't settle until Akamaru could show him how to feel it. He'd press his nose in to the soft fur and the wisdom of the dog would guide him. That was why they were brothers. The Inuzuka were one with the canines they lived with.

Asuma's team had each other. They all had their fathers, and Asuma. Kiba had. . . Who did he have? Shino and Hinata were gone, and Kirenai was no longer active. All he had was Akamaru.

He could smell blood, so much blood. He steeled him self and turned the corner. Laying still his brother was lifeless. Still.

How could Naruto be dead? That was a strange and abstract question that had no meaning.

How could Akamaru be dead? That was every thing. He stepped forward in to the hot ally and knelt. "Akamaru?" Reaching out he stroked the fur. There was no breath, no life. No one left.

Iruka's sent rose from the body like a miasma. And, to Kina's surprise, another human sent mingled just as freshly. Ino's father had been there. He bent low and followed the path of hands, the sent of the tall blond man, all the way to the blade cruelly jutting from Akamaru's side. He snorted in disgust. Inoichi had held the blade that had killed his brother.

He was still to numb to feel any way about that now. It didn't matter who had killed Akamaru, Iruka or Inoichi. His brother was dead. That reality consumed all others. He forgot about his mission and Naruto all together.

Kiba pulled his coat off and draped it over the dog's head. His own head hung low after that. Who would guide him now?

Another sent touched him, one of distress. He lifted his head and spotted Choji sprawled over the ground nearby, also lifeless. Kiba struggled to his feet, guided only by his training now. Kneeling he felt for any signs of life from the larger teen. While he was not breathing, nor was his heart beating, he did not yet smell dead.

Kiba cupped his hands and pressed them against Choji's chest. He couldn't help Akamaru. . . but maybe. . .

"Choji." He thrust hard, fighitng for a pulse. "Choji, Ino needs you. Don't." He thrust again against the imposing chest. "Don't you dare die too!" Moments passed still and silent. The sent of life was gfading.

"CHOJI? KIBA?" Kiba lifted his head.

"INO!" He screamed. "Choji. . ."

She rounded the corner and gasped. The color drained from her face and for a moment she culd not move.

"Ino. . . He's not breathing. Help. . ."

She shook her self and ran to his side. "Get off!" She shoved him away and straddled her team mate. All of her tears were gone. She began chest compression hard, so hard Kiba was sure she'd crack Chiji's ribs.

"Breath for him!" She snapped. Strength and the Will of Fire radiated off of her like a halo.

Kiba nodded and took his position. Willingly he followed her command. Now was not the time to feel, but to act. He did as he was told.

…...

Shizune raced. Tsunade had sent her out to back up the younger ninja, reasoning that if Iruka was capable of killing Akastuki, then he could kill them too, especially If he was mentally unstable. She checked the list of ingredients off in her mind one by one, and combined them in as many ways as she could, trying to understand what the soft eyed teacher had surging through his body now. The dose was small, but that meant nothing to her. He was not a medical ninja, if any thing was mixed wrong then it might already be to late for him.

She followed the trail as best she could. Her nose was weak, but took up the strongest sents she could pick out in the hot day. A trace of Ino, a whisp of Akamaru. She found her way to a dead end ally. Iruka was not there, but every one else was.

It was worse than she could have imagined. Akamaru was dead, and Choji was near death. Ino was working desperately to revive him. Shizune rushed to her side to assist.

"Report." She said gently.

"We have a pulse, but it's unstable." Ino glanced to the side. "I think he's bleeding internally."

Shizune forced her mind to be calm and spread her hands out over Ino's "Keep doing what you are doing, both of you."

She nodded. Shizune closed her eyes and let her chakra flow out. Flesh mended, and bones knit with in the teen's chest. A moment later he took in a harsh breath and wheezed. "Don't stop Ino." Shizune said. "But Kiba, give him room."

"Yes ma'am." The boy backed away and sat, shivering, in the shadows.

Shizune pushed him out of her mind, and refocused. Choji was breathing,and after a near minute, Ino backed off.

"His heart it beating again."

Shizune looked down at Choji's death touched eyes. "Kiba, go fetch medical staff. Ino, stay with him. I'm going to find Iruka."

The both nodded. She hurried on, fear for the teacher was nearly suffocating now. She'd reacted before she could think. But now she pondered the situation. How could Iruka kill one of his own children?

…...

"What can you do to stop me?" The Fox asked, dark and smug.

"I'll take us both out before I let you hurt one more person from my village! I can't be Hokage if there's nothing left to protect!"

…...

Fuka stumbled thorough the streets before dropping down against a wall. A puddle was before him. It shivered and trembled in the light.

Iruka felt the cool of plaster on his back as he leaned against the building behind him and closed his eyes against the pain in his head.

Fuka looked in to the puddle and watched as Iruka sat, nearly limp, hair hanging in limp strands all around his face. As if sensing some one watching he opened his eyes and looked down at Fuka.

"I hate you."

"I know. But we have to work together now."

"I don't think we can."

Iruka ran his hands through his hair and let out an exhausted sigh. He could feel the poison surging through his body, but also his body fighting it off. He wondered if he'd die.

"I can't keep going like this."

"Then maybe one of us should stop trying."

Fuka sneered and leaned his head back against the old building. His head hurt.

"Choji."

They looked at each other. Grief and acceptance flowing freely and mingling.

Iruka glared. "You want power? Fame? You want people to praise you in the streets?" He tore his eyes away from the flat dry expression. "You won't get it by killing children."

"I'm not the one who killed those two in the ally. And I'm not the one who killed those two Akastuki men."

Iruka looked down at the smug reflection. "What?"

"You said it your self, Iruka." Fuka leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "I'm your drive, but you keep fighting me. You keep trying to be the innocent paper-pusher, the teacher of children. We both know this body can do so much more." He sneered. "You know the only thing that's kept you from reaching your full potential was the restrictions the Third put on me. He was afraid of what you could become if left untempered."

Iruka stared, but did not argue.

"No clan, no idea of what powers you posses, no realization of just how strong you really are."

"What do you want?" Iruka asked, his eyes turned up to the sky. It was such a splendid shade of blue.

"I want every thing you want." Fuka replied. "The only difference is I will get it."

Iruka closed his eyes and saw Choji looking at him again with shock. The vision was like a bad dream, a nightmare. He'd tried so hard to save Kakashi, but he'd lost two others. "One way or another I will find a way to kill you, Fuka." He said bitterly. "Even if I have to kill us both to do it."

Fuka folded his arms. "You don't have the guts."

Iruka grinned and opened his eyes. He looked down in to Fuka's eyes,and noted the strange blue rings that had formed on the insides of the irises. "But that's where you are wrong."

Fuka frowned as he watched Iruka, who had strange blue rings on the out side of his irises, pull a blade out and press it to his chest. "Don't!"

"Just watch me. I'll kill us both before you ever hurt another one of the leaf's villager ever again!" He gripped the handle tight and readied him self. At least maybe he'd get to see Naruto again . . .

"IRUKA!" The sharp, feminine, panic filled voice split the air and made Iruka jump. The blade dropped in to the puddle and broke the reflection. He looked up, shaking a little, as he saw Shizune running up to him.

"You weren't about to. . ." She snatched the blade up and tossed it as far as she could. It landed in a heap of trash down the street.

"Let me." He scrambled up, his knees shook and knocked together, but he managed to stand and lean against the building. His arm was starting to throb now. Wincing in pain he clutched it. "Let me kill him!"

"Kill who, Iruka?" She asked.

"The person who lives in side me. Fuka, he's. . . he;s dangerous! He tried to kill Kakashi!" He gripped his arm tighter as it hurt more.

Shizune was shaking her head slowly, watching him with large, sad eyes. "Iruka, were you alone with Kakashi?"

He stared at her. "I'm telling you Fuka is real!" He took a shaking breath. "I'm not crazy!"

"Was Kakashi poisoned?" She asked, gently.

He shook his head.

"When did the poison go?" She touched his shoulder. He turned his head away,unable tolook in to her eyes.

"I took it."

"And just now, with the knife?"

He glared at the wall he was leaning against. "Fuka, is a real person, and I have to kill him before he kills any one else."

"Did he kill Akamaru?"

Iruka hung his head. "N. . . no."

"Did he try to kill Choji?" She asked.

He shook his head and closed his eyes. "He's real. You have to believe me."

"The poison mixed in your body has an ingredient that can cause a person to hallucinate. OK? Listen to me."

He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"It can also make some one aggressive. You aren't thinking striate, you aren't well, and you aren't crazy. But you do need help." She smoothed back his hair. "You need to come with me so we can help you. OK?"

"It's not safe. I. . ." He started to shake. He wasn't sure why. "Let me go." His knees buckled and he slid to the ground. "Let me do what I have to do." Looking up he saw tears welling up in her eyes. "Please. Before he hurts any one else."

"Iruka." She knelt next to him and looked him over. "I won't let you kill your self." She smoothed back his hair once more and let her hand rest on the back of his neck. "I will help you." A pulse of energy flooded his spine and the world faded. He felt her arms wrap around him as he went limp.

The last thing he saw was his reflection watching him from the puddle. He wore a tired expression as he slumped, broken looking, against the plaster of the building. There was no sorrow, only a flat, cold, frown.


	19. Follow The Leader

Oi... OI... This chapter! This chapter that I wrote because I had to and I took so long and _OI_! Well, I don't care what it has WRONG with it at the moment, it's UP and it's new and it moves the story along and parts of it I had a LOT of fun writing and others... I had to edit a BAZILLION TIMES...

And it's SOOO LONG!

I was becoming frustrated during a part of it, so forgive me, I tossed in some minor 'OCs' for my own amusement. I know you must be thinking "I thought you were writing this for your amusement". Yes... but... well, some times I just have to sneak characters from OTHER SHOWS in to my work. XD The names have been changed to protect the innocent 1980's characters that did not ASK to be brought in to this Anime stuff from realising that yes, I brought them _here_.

And in other news... I have a secondary story going called **_Growing Pains_** that I update every week I can't get a chapter of this monstrosity out. It's a Naruto story, so if you need a fix from me and I haven't updated Fox and Wolf then you can try that. It's a LOT less complicated and more straight forward in plot, but it's still Kakashi and Naruto. I hope you like that one as much as this one. XD

And one last thing... I have OTHER OCs NOT for my amusement, but they were necessary. So if this story starts to seem like a scrambled mess with to many characters don't worry... After a couple more messy chapters like this one it should start to streamline again. Thank you for reading and now... on with the show...

* * *

Chapter 18: Follow The Leader

…...

Voices all around bombarded Tsunade as she stood, numb, in the main foyer of the Konoha Hospital. Before her were the double glass doors being flung open as Orderlies rushed Choji in on a stretcher. Blood was streaming from his lips. To her right Shizune was yelling out orders to a couple of frightened looking nurses while holding the unconscious body of Umino Iruka close. Behind her Jiraya was assembling a group of ANBU solders to guard Kakashi's room. To her left Asuma was fighting her security staff to get to his wounded student while Shikamaru stood by in dumb shock. Kiba was behind them shaking with glassy wide eyes. Just next to her Ino was talking rapid fire, unintelligibly, about what had happened.

Tsunade reached up and rubbed the back of her neck as she blinked slowly. She could feel the chain her gem was hung on under her fingers. The doors before her were closing and some one was yelling something about 'loosing the heart beat'. Behind her the ANBU were demanding answers from Jiraya, who could only relay pained, choppy, answers. Ino was still babbling, but her words were slowing. Tsunade pulled her hand away from her neck and stepped out of the way as the gurney was rushed past her. She watched as the orderlies fought to bring him back again as they raced down the hall.

She caught the look in Shizune's eyes as the younger woman watched the gurney with horror.

"I thought I healed him!"

The ANBU were departing, going to their tasks. Asuma broke free of his restraint, but Ino blocked him and grabbed him in a tight hug. She was sobbibg now. He stopped fighitng and looked down at her. For a moment there was some thig tender and distraught in his eyes. Then he turned a hate fillded look to the unconscious teacher at Shizune's feet.

Killing Chakra filled the room.

She turned away and looked at Jiraya. The old face was deeply set in heavy shadows. His hands were lax at his side, but trembling slightly.

"Asuma No!" Shizune jumped between him and her current charge. He stopped again, the air roaring up around him. "It's not his fault!"

Jiraya looked up. Tsunade dipped her head.

"I'll kill him!" More wind, and more hate.

"Tsunade Sama, do some thing!" Shizune's voice was all panic and sorrow.

She shook her head and stepped away.

The killing intent shifted. "Hokage, he attacked my student!"

"He's not in his right mind!"

"He's a killer!"

"Tsunade Sama!"

She continued to walk away. Every step was taken with less feeling than the last one. The cool dark halls were inviting, quiet.

A strong hand took her elbow. She looked up at Jiraya. He looked cooly down at her. Then he let her go and stood straight, hair bristling and turned towards the two bickering jounin.

"Stand down, Asuma."

The younger ninja glared, but did as he was told. "He's a murderer."

"Can you prove that?" Jiraya asked. "Can you prove that man is in his right mind right now? Can you tell me his anger at loosing Naruto is any less than what you feel for Choji?"

Asuma's fists clenched. "He's been this way for a number of days now. It was only a matter of time!"

"That's because he's dreaded Naruto's death for not just days, but weeks. Could you, knowing one of your children was possibly going to die, and having no way to prevent it, remain sane?"

Asuma stared for a moment before looking down at the helpless academy teacher. Finally, angrily, he shook his head. "No."

Jiraya went on, his own anger spilling out. "We lost the jinchuriki. Now is not the time for inner strife. With out Naruto here the village is in more grave danger than even the night he was born. Akastuki are still looking for him and will not belive any one of us if we tell them he is dead. More over Orochimaru is planning an attack and our forces are spread all to thin at the moment." He bristled even more. "Our enemy will crush in on us now from every direction and we may be powerless against them. Save your rage and give it to them."

Asuma cooled and stepped back. His chakra stabilized, but did not disappear. "What do we do?"

Jiraya looked over at Tsunade. Tsunade could only shake her head again. Gravely Jiraya strode forward to the center of the lobby and squaired his shoulders. "If Iruka has truly killed the Akastuki men who have come near our village then we call back the forces."

"He killed them." Shikamaru said darkly. "There can be no other truth to what happened."

Shizune held Iruka a little tighter. "How could he have killed them?"

"That does not matter now." Jiraya said as he looked down at her. "What matters is he did and that works to our advantage." Looking back up he took a breath. "Recall the men, count the forces and prepare them for battle. Orochimaru is a cruel adversary who has killed the jinchuri. He will feel bold and strike hard and sure. We must be prepared to fight, even to the death, against him and his forces, as he will not let up on us."

Tsunade reached up and touched her gem. It was cold and solid.

"He may even have the power of the nine Tailed Fox with him."

Shikamaru spoke, dry cold words. "The odds are against us surviving even one day in such a battle."

Tsunade gripped her gem tight. She could feel her nails cutting in to the palm of her hand.

Kiba looked up, still shaking. "Naruto didn't care about odds."

Ino wiped her eyes and forced a smile. "Sakura always believed we could win no mater what."

Tsunade was sure she'd cut her self. She dipped her head low. The whole room seemed to be growing dark around her despite the strong sun light.

"He was an obnoxious brat." Asuma said quietly. He turned and looked down at Iruka. "I. . ." He shook his head. "Loosing a student. . ." Ino took his arm and set her head on it.

"Choji will be OK." Her voice was sad, but convicted. "I know he'll be OK."

Tsunade took a slow breath and started walking again. There was definitely blood in her grip.

"Lady Hokage?" Asuma asked.

She continued to walk. The shadows some how seemed better than the light.

"Tsunade sama?" Shizune called.

She took another breath. "As Jiraya has spoken, so let it be." The darkness engulfed her.

…...

Guy jumped from branch to branch as he kept a weary eye out for any one who may be watching. Wasn't there supposed to be Akastuki out and about? And if he was a missing nin were there people sent to capture him?

Yet the woods were quiet, empty. Only animals could be heard now. It wasn't very comforting because he felt the worry keenly the whole time. Worry for all of the students and for his village it's self.

He'd scoured Kakashi's room for some sort of information that could help in this situation, but he'd found nothing of any value. The only thing he'd gleaned from the search was the fact that Kakashi was hiding more than just his face. Every personal fasset was masked some how.

Books with false jackets. . . normal people didn't do that. He'd even had rare copies of very hard to find books reprinted in to volumes that would fit in those jackets.

Hiding. . . always hiding. Guy shook his head a little. He ached for Kakashi's lost youth! If only he had been able to help Kakashi back when he was but a child, but alas... the war had not been kind to the silver haired ninja. His whole life had been pain and loss. But not now, not ever again!

Guy stopped on a branch and scanned the world around him. He'd reach the village by night fall and when He did the first place he'd go was the Hospital! He'd tell Kakashi what he knew and then reconfirm he'd protect Naruto! The blond youth had broken past all the masks and seen in to Kakashi's soul like no other had before. Such a treasure was with out measurement. The utter, splendid, beauty of unfettered love between a student and a teacher had blossomed.

Guy sobbed out right here, alone, on the branch. Not with agony, or fear, but of sheer awe at the events that had unfolded!

Seince Garra's death Naruto had been in danger, and Kakashi had bravely done every thing in his power to help the blond! Every thing including the unthinkable! He'd loved him!

Another sob escaped him, but he forced him self to cut the small emotional outburst short. He had a mission, after all.

He was going to learn Naruto's inner most truths! He struck another pose, wishing Kakashi were there with him to feel the love and joy flowing from his heart, before leaping off again.

…...

Ox strode in to the room and stood next to Wolf's bed as quietly as he could. Cat, Toad and Sparrow entered after him in silence, as he had ordered. Toad shut the door behind him and took up a watchful position near the window.

They had be rerouted from delivering a fancy, hand written, diplomatic scroll toone of the friendly countries miles and miles away. Ox settled in to his position over the ashen figure on the bed, feeling just a touch guilty for being glad he didn't have to go. Especially on one of those long, boring, ambassador missions.

Besides, as he looked down at the young man on the bed next to him, he had an old debt to repay. A touch of some cool emotion traced the edges of his mind as he looked down at the dirty silver hair and long, narrow, scar that graced the ninja's eye. He pressed the emotion back gently, keeping in mind that he was ANBU, and that this was just another mission.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Sparrow stepped up to the bed and looked down through her mask. "He looks like he's dead. Sure does. Yep."

"He's breathing." Cat poked Wolf's shoulder with a red painted nail. "Though he does look like some thing an animal dragged in."

"A cat dragged in. . . Cat." Toad corrected smoothly. He was taking a seat on the window sill. It was a narrow perch, but the thin teen fit well in the small aria. "Thought he was supposed to have really been dead days ago. His student's revived him, I heard."

"Give him respect." Ox rumbled from his post. "He's done more to save you three than you three have done for your selves. Combined."

Cat pulled away and took her stand at the end of the bead with a light shrug. "He's older than we are."

Sparrow took her post at the door. "Older. Sure is."

"I heard you worked with him once upon a time." Toad lounged against the window.

Ox nodded once. "Bravest man I've ever seen. Saved us all." Memories flickered through his mind. Memories of blood and snow and enemies that fell at them like flakes in a blizzard. It had been a horrible, useless, dead end fight.

"From what?" Cat asked. "That's the important thing." She looked her red nails over. "If he saved you from a mouse. . ."

"He saved my men from an ambush." Ox looked down at the pale face and let the slivers of gratitude mingle with his consciousness. It was a small indulgence. He owed, after all. Wolf had always been one to shun total emotional shut downs, so maybe this was another way to thank him. To feel what another felt – empathy – that was a gift not many ANBU had any more.

Wolf has always been nothing more than a mas Hatake Kakashi put on. A tool he had used. He'd never been able to give him self over all the way. At least Ox had never seen him embrace the Wolf persona fully.

"Ambushes are not good." Sparrow shifted a little. "I do not like them."

"We would have all been dead twice over, but he shielded me with his own body." Ox rumbled as more memories filtered through. The man had only become an ANBU killer when he had to become so. "He wasn't even supposed to be with us, but heard we might be in danger." He looked back up and folded his arms. "You give him all the respect in the world. He's a legend and much more. He's the reason I stand here and breath to this day."

Each masked head nodded once.

"I mean it." He let the gratitude linger a moment longer before he pressed that back too.

"We will give our lives for his." Toad pledged flatly, but earnestly. "He saved me once too, you know. I was captured and he came back for me."

"I've never met him before." Cat admitted. "But the older ANBU speak so highly of him. Seems he's some sort of good luck charm. If you are with him you can't be killed."

Sparrow tilted her head. "I've heard the same thing. I have, yes I have."

At the voices Wolf shifted a little and sucked in a breath. Pane laced his already tense features. A small wisp of sympathy for Wolf sifted in to Ox's mind. The man had left the ANBU and taken on students. While there had been rumors for years as to why Wolf would end up with brats to care for only two had stood to this day. The first Rumor was that he was loosing his mind, as many ANBU eventually did, and needed to have a period of time to regain what ever he'd lost. The other rumor was that he'd been ordered to take the students on because he was the student of the Fourth Hokage and quite possibly was the best to safe guard against the demon fox escaping the vessel.

Ox wasn't sure if any of it was true, but he did know that for three years Wolf had tested student teams only to fail every one of them. It had been entirely up to him, in the end, to leave ANBU and take on students. And finally, with the son of his own sensei, Wolf had taken the brats under his watch. Ox could still remember the day he was last in the hidden ANBU main office, turning in his final mission report. He'd looked the same, but there had been some thing almost playful about him. It hadn't been until that chance encounter that OX had fully realised just how much more in tune with his own human feelings Wolf had always been.

How kind. How protective. It had been this humanity that had enabled him to save every one he'd ever joined up with.

His students were now all gone. The very same humanity that had made him one of the best ANBU ever to grace the Leaf was now eating him alive from the inside out. OX could see it in his features, even through the mask and drugged sleep.

"Is he waking up?" Sparrow asked with a tilt of her head.

Ox stiffened and pressed down another wave of sympathy. "He might be trying to. Let's stay quiet so he rests, all right?"

Again three heads nodded. As silence filled the room Ox settled in to his post. As Toad had said they would all give their lives for the man suffering before them. Wolf. ANBU.

Kakashi, teacher and friend to the vessel of the Nine Tail Fox. The now dead vessel.

Wolf moaned softly in his sleep.

…...

Cool breezes flowed through the cracks in the broken down hallway as the sun climbed towards it's peek. Sai shifted from his position of sitting cross legged and straight, to slumped against the solid wall behind him. He blinked heavily, his whole body feeling the strain of the fight more keenly with every passing hour. Slowly, as white serpents curled next to him, his head dipped.

Every thing was quiet. His team mates were slumbering. There didn't seem to be any danger. His eyes slid closed. A solid body slithered up against his back. Softly, like a distant dream, the serpent hissed in his ear. Half asleep he swatted at it. A moment latter it was pack, it's feathery tongue testing the naked skin on his neck.

"MASSSSTER!"

Snapping his eyes open at the cry Sai lunged forward on instinct not knowing what to expect. As he leaped clear of the wall a sharp pain seared his neck and he yelped. Fangs, sharp ones, were digging in to his flesh. His hand shot up to the unfriendly creature and tore it from his body, but it was to little to late. Pulsing down his spine he could feel the effects of venom working against his nervous system.

He gave the enemy snake a toss, where his loyal serpent lunged upon it and the two began to write in a fierce fight. Sai watched, a bit dazed, as his snake lost ground to the larger aggressor.

"Masssster." It twisted away desperately as the larger snake bit in to it. "Flee, Manda comesss, He ssssendsss his army firssst. Flee!"

Sai rubbed his neck and glanced at Naruto and Sakura. Neither looked to be in any shape to fight Orochimaru's most dangerous summon, or his serpent armies. But alone, and poisoned Sai knew he was no match. He couldn't even lead the monster away to ensure their safety.

Grimacing against the strange pain racing down his spine he pulled a Kunai out of it's holster and gave it a toss at his attacker. It cut the larger snake's head clean off. The smaller snake, having been bitten a number of times, lay limp and panting. Sai scooped it up.

"Tell me, is there any weakness to Manda?"

The small white snake shook his head slowly. "No. There isss no weakness in that snake." it's tongue flicked. "You musssst flee."

Sai hung the small snake about his neck and pulled his collar up over it protectively. "Try not to die." he said.

He felt the tongue flick over the bite wound. "Ssssame to massster."

Sai stepped over to Naruto and knelt to one knee. Firmly he took hold of Naruto's shoulder and gave it a hearty shake. "Wake up."

Naruto blinked for a moment, then sat up with a pained grunt. "Sai? What's wrong?"

"We will be attacked." He felt the numb spread to his back. From the dark halls a low rumble like distant thunder rolled up.

Naruto sat up and rubbed his eyes blearily. "What? You said this place was safe."

Sai pulled down his collar and gently moved his loyal snake out of the way to show Naruto the bite. "I was attacked already. Get up, we must get away quickly."

…...

Hiashi tore the main doors of the Kokage tower open as he stormed through the halls. He'd been searching for Niji for hours. Anger bubbled up in his chest, anger and a touch of fear. Days ago, when he'd attempted his own life, the elders had told him that they had heard that he was in a plot with Hinata to kill Hanabi. At first he had refused to believe it, but they had insisted it was true. It was a struggle for power and when Hinata had refused to grant him release from the main branch he'd tried to end his own life.

"Where is she?" He demanded. The elders had offered him Inoichi, telling him to search Neji's mind out. He'd refused them at first, but the nagging seed of doubt had been planted. Hanabi was the only hope for his clan. He had accepted, but forced all who had taken part in the night to sware silence. Only one had resisted. "Where is Tsunade?" He would find might Guy and make sure he was punished for his part in it all. Inoichi had asured him that the plot was real.

They would try to kill Hanabi for sure.

"I ASKED WHERE IS THE HOKAGE!"

The secretary looked up from her report and blew a huge pink bubble, unimpressed. "Do you have an appointment?"

"I do _not_ need an appointment, I am. . ."

"I know who you are." She said and blew another bubble. "Look, if you don't have an appointment, or aren't on an assignment signed by her or one of her aids, then you can't just storm in here like you own the place." From the moment he'd found Neji missing his only thought was to find him and drag him home. By the hair, if he had too. "You will tell me where she is or else. . ."

"Or else what?" She lifted one eyebrow and tossed her vibrant red hair to get it out of her eyes. "You'll toss me out?"

Hiashi suppressed another growl and stood tall. "My eldest daughter and nephew are missing. They may be plotting to kill my youngest daughter. I believe they are with the traitor Might Guy." He straightened the hem of his robe near his neck and took a breath. It was not good to look like a raving mad man. He must keep his composure. He was the head of the clan, after all. He squelched the rage once more, but it was simmering just under the finely garnished exterior of command and control. "I want them found, and I want them found _now_."

She set the papers down and stood up with her palms on the desk. "In case you haven't heard, pal, this whole village in in a state of emergency because the jinchuriki is dead." She piston chewed her gum and stared at him with frosty green eyes. "We are under threat from not one, but two evil organizations AND we are very badly understaffed! In fact we are so understaffed that I got called in on _my day off_. So if you think the Hokage is going to drop every thing and come running to assemble a team to look for a couple of missing kids on grounds of an assassination that you have no proof of, well, you had better think again!" She tossed her hair again while blowing another bubble.

He felt the whole of his rage building dangerously now. Her attitude and her flamboyant aura was madding. No Hyuga would have dared speak in such a manor, not even to a branch member. After all his clan had done for the village, after all he had done, this was more than just a slight in manners. "I am the leader of the Hyuga clan and you. . ."

She stood fully and crossed her arms. "And I'm supposed to be at a hot spring." She tilter her head and gave him a vaguely annoyed look.

He clenched his fists as he felt the anger reach it's over flow point. For to many days he'd been chasing information down, for too many days he'd been trying desperately hard to find the truth. He would not be stopped by one read head, bubble blowing, green eyed secretary. "Now you look here. . ."

"Sicurity!" She called almost lazily over he shoulder. Two other ninja appeared in clouds of smoke and mist. One lanky one with brown hair leaned against her desk and leered at her.

"Hey, you called babe?" He grinned. "What seems to be the problem, my lady?"

She reached out and shoved his face away as she looked at the blond man who was reading a scroll. "Osamu, this creep won't take no for an answer."

"Which one?"

"Erry-unny." The brown haired man said, still in place with his face muffled. He then pulled away and reached behind him for his kantana. "OH, hey, I know this guy."

Hiashi found the brown haired ninja's finger pointing very rudely at him.

"He's a real pain in the ass from what I've heard."

Osamu looked up from his scroll slowly. "This is Haiashi, leader of the Hyuga clan, supposedly. . ." He pressed thick glasses up his nose, ". . . he was directly responsible for his twin brother's death. At least that's what I've been able to gather."

Hiashi nearly trembled with rage. "How dare you! I never. . . He was my brother. . ."

Osamu pulled his own katana out from behind his back as he put the scroll away neatly. "It's nothing personal, I assure you." He glanced at the brown haired man. "Ready, Kouta?"

Kouta grinned. "Thought you'd never ask!"

…...

A more pleasant dream Naruto could not have wished for. He was sitting in the grass under a huge tree. Clones were surrounding him, bringing him bowls of raman, and fanning him in the shade. The raman was all free too, because Sakura had offered to pay for it because he'd saved Sasuke. Kakashi was there too, reading his book and looking borderline board, which was wonderful.. They were all so relaxed, so happy...

A clone shook his shoulder and offered him another bowl. "Wake up!" He smiled. Naruto frowned. His shoulder was again shaken and the happy world faded, reviling a dark, dank, broken down hallway.

His stomach hurt, so did his back. All the shoulder shaking was not helping, either. Turning a little he looked up and saw Sai's pale face staring down at his. He sat up and thankfully Sai pulled his hand away. "Sai? What's wrong?"

"We will be attacked." He replied with so little emotion he could have been speaking about the color of a glass of water. A low rumble from the distance accompanied the statement, giving it weight.

"What?" All he wanted was to go back to that happy dream. How long had it been since he had had a really, nice, happy dream? "You said this place was safe."

Sai tilted his head and pulled the collar of his shirt down. Two wet fang marks showed up clearly against the white skin of his neck. Naruto swallowed nervously. "I was attacked already. Get up, we must get away quickly."

Naruto nodded, feeling the roll of panic start up again. Very quickly he stepped in to his inner world and glared at the Raccoon. "Look, I don't know you all that well."

The beast glared right back at him and trilled nervously.

"I understand you have had a trauma. Yes, I GET that. But we'll both have an even worse one if you don't try to keep all that panic down, OK? I don't mind you being here so long as you try to be a little more positive!"

He didn't expect the Raccoon to listen to him, the Fox never did, but to his amazement the panic did die down a _little_. The glare softened and the beast trilled less threateningly.

"Yes, that's better." Naruto said, taking a wild guess as to what all that trilling really meant. For all he knew it was just calming be cause it had sensed him as no threat. He was more or less helpless against it and he knew it, the beast knew it too. Wearily he gave the Raccoon a smile, hoping it didn't intend to eat him alive. Though if that were the case wouldn't he already be dead? "Now be a good tiled beast." He added. He didn't have time to ponder any of this, but with the shock wearing off it was beginning to worry him that there were two of them in his head.

He cast a quick glance at the Fox cage. The Fox was watching with icy hot red eyes, staring. Here there was no ambiguity with where he stood with this monster. "You too." He added for good measure.

Before the Fox could say any thing Naruto returned to the reality out side of his mind scape. Sai was waking Sakura up and casting quick glances towards the depths of the halls. A thin sheen of sweat was starting to form over his skin.

Sakura struggled to sit up, and when she did she trembled. Naruto crouched in front of her and looked her over. Her legs were bruised up and down. Anger, tightly controlled, rolled through him, at the thought of Kabuto touching her. He forced the anger to the back of his mind, not wanting to feed the two creatures with in him, and forced his face to be neutral.

"Can you get up?"

She nodded and strugled to get her feet under her. Once she did she managed to stand. Naruto watched her as she shook for another moment, then steadied her self. He turned and looked up at Sai next. The teen was starting to have difficulty breathing and he was no longer focused looking.

"Sakura, check Sai over, I'm going to scout the lair to see where the threat is coming from." He stood and pressed his hands together.

She blinked at him for a moment before turning to Sai. "What happened?"

"I was bitten by a snake." He pulled his shirt collar down and showed her the bite. She stepped up to him unsteadily and placed her hands over the wound.

"I think I can get most of it out."

Naruto summoned a dozen clones and sent them on their way. "Do it quickly." He leaped up to the open ground above the tunnel and scanned the thick jungle. Orochimaru's body was covered in a swarm of smaller snakes. They were devouring the flesh from his bones. Naruto grimaced and turned his attention back to the dark lair. He dropped down as the first two cloned returned to him. The huge, dark purple and blue, snake that Orochimaru had summoned at the battle of the Sannin, was coming from a side tunnel.

"Are you done Sakura?" He asked.

"Almost." She said with a little wheeze.

Sai pulled away from her hands. "Conserve your energy. I am feeling much better now, thank you."

"I'm not done with you! And for heaven sakes why do you have a snake in your shirt?" She asked as the loyal snake lifted it's head and flicked it's tongue out at her. "It'll bite you again!" She reached for it.

Sai pulled even further away. "This one calls me master because I am the Son of Orochimaru."

"WHAT!" She half yelped.

Naruto felt two more clones return. Mada was almost on them. "Now is _really_ not the time, guys. We have to get out of here NOW." He leaped back up to the clearing. One more clone had returned to him. The other was running back with something it had found, what that something was he didn't know, but evidently the clones thought it was important enough to jog back.

Sakura jumped and joined him, though her whole body wobbled when shwe landed. He grabbed her and steadied her. "Sakura."

"I'm all right, Naruto."

They both looked down at Sai. The whole cavern was starting to tremble.

"Sai, jump!" Naruto shouted.

He looked up, eyes unfocused.

Sakura pulled out of Naruto's arms. "He still has to much poison in his system, idiot!"

"Wh-what?" He shook his head and blinked. The rest of the clones, except for the one running back, disolved and Naruto sucked in a breath. The whole world started to shake. Madra was only a hand full of yards away.

"SAI NOW!"

The youth shook his head and crouched, gathering strength for the jump. Naruto shoved Sakura way from the ledge and dropped down to help. He grabbed Sai's waist and held firm just as the last clone ran in to the aria. It skidded to a stoop and trust a scrap of black cloth in to Naruto's hand before disappearing. purple and red eyes filled the hall where the clone had been.

Naruto leaped. Sai held on as tight as he could, but some thing fell.

"My book!"

The drawings.

Madra erupted below them and opened his mouth to swallow them whole. A blur of pinke slammed in to them and they flew sideways as the jaws snapped shut where they had been. They crashed in to the ground dozens of feet way as the huge serpent fell through the ground back in to the lair. Rocks and wood sprayed up then rained down.

Gasping, the three team mates struggled to stand. Gulping for air Sakura sank to her knees and clutched her legs. Sai slid down next to her. Naruto felt pain lace his whole body, but ignored it. "We can't leave those drawings behind."

"What drawings?" Sakura asked.

"The ones you told me to make, about the truth." Sai replied as he fought to stand again. "I dropped them, There for I must go back to get them."

The ground under them trembled again. Madra was turning under the surface, getting ready to strike again.

Naruto glared at the world around him. "No." Both Sakura and Sai looked up at him with pained, haggard faces. "I'm the onluy one who will survive going after the book."

"Is it really worth going after it?" Sakura asked. "Can't Sai just repaint the picture?"

Naruto shook his head. "We can't leave these for some one to find. I Promised him no one else would ever see them." The ground rumbled again.

"If the wrong person were to discover the information with in the book Konoha could be placed at jeopardy." Sai added. "However, Naruto, your survival out weighs mine. You are Konoha's number one defense."

Naruto turned and looked over at Sai. "My survival? _You_ can hardly stand, let alone fight that thing. I'm going and you are staying here to let Sakura take out the rest of that venom."

"You do not hold rank sufficient to give this team orders." Sai said as he took an unsteady step towards the hole. "I am an ANBU. . ."

Naruto grabbed his elbow and pulled him down to a seated position. "I've never liked the ANBU." He said flatly. The whole world shuddered with the sound of rocks crushing under foot. They were running out of time. "No, I'll go. You stay here and allow Sakura to draw out the venom. Sakura, once the Venom is clear you and Sai get as far from this aria as you can."

"Naruto you can't go." Sakura said roughly. "What if we loose you for good this time?" She grabbed on to his arm. "You have an infection starting up in side of your body. All the regeneration in the world can't make up for septic shock."

Naruto glanced back at the hole. It looked more and more like a yawning abyss than the opening to a lair. He felt another rumble and squinted out over the broken ground. His clones had reported the speed and the agility the serpent had possessed while it was with in the halls. Down there it seamed just as fast as he remembered it, and just as large. If it breached the surface he had no doubt it would be even faster as it would no longer be hindered by the confines of the rock walls.

"It's a risk I have to take, Sakura. I couldn't live with the thought of loosing that information, as obscure as it is, to one of Orochimaru's loyal ninja, or worse, the Akastuki." He looked back down at his tattered team. Fear was swelling with in him. The fear of loosing Sakura, or Sai even, after they had been trough so much. A touch of panic started to bubble up. "I can regenerate." He said quickly, trying to convince them. Trying to convince him self. "And you can remove venom. If I get bit or injured I know I'll be fine. Believe in me, Sakura!" He smiled down at her. He needed her to belive, just one more time. "We did save Sasuke, after all, didn't we?"

She smiled just a little. "Yes. Naruto I. . ."

"Belief is not a strategic component." Sai said, interrupting, breathless. "Naruto, if you are ingested by that serpent you will, in fact, regenerate, only to be dissolved once more in it's digestive acid. You will again regenerate, and again be dissolved. It will be an endless, hellish, cycle. There will be no end to your torment for as long as the tailed beasts with in you hold out. You may believe in your abilities all you want, but you can not escape the reality of the battle scenario."

Visions of his nightmares sprung up at the thought of being swallowed whole. Panic. Fear. _Terror!_ Nightmares of burning alive, over and over again every night, waking up screaming, only to fall back to sleep. . . endless it was because the beasts were so much stronger, so much more powerful than he was . If he were swallowed they would rage. Flesh stripped from with out, and fire of hatred burning from with in. His nightmares swelled up, fire, screaming. . . The cry for death that wouldn't come. . .Yes, he would survive the acid burn, but at what cost? His knees buckled as the memories swamped him. ". . .no. . ."

"Naruto!" Sakura hurried to his side. "Sai, you. . . you monster! I ought to leave that poison in you!"

He looked unimpressed by her threat. "I'm only stating the truth."

"I've had _enough_ of your truth." She hissed. Turning back she took Naruto's face in her hands. "Naruto? Naruto look at me."

"No!" He gripped his head tight and felt the Raccoon with in burst to life with panic. "NO!"

A strong slap accost the face broke the cycle and he gasped. Sakura's angry, teary face was staring at him. "Snap out of it!"

"S-Sakura. . ." He took a breath and tried to calm him self down. Grabbing her arms he looked back to the chasm. Endless pain and suffering. Looking back at her, at her worried, teary eyes... Even if there was a hell he could not escape from he would take that, rather than let her perish. He stood, unsteady at first, but she rose with him, keeping him firm. "Sai is right. Belief is. . . no longer. . . enough." He felt her arms, her warmth, her presence. No, he would not choose to flee if he could give them even the slightest chance to live. Give her the slightest chance. "But. . ." He rasped, fear and panic surging like two grate colliding waves. "It's my decision." Sauske was free, and even if he had to brake every other promise in the world, he'd make sure the rest of his team was too.

"Naruto."

"Stay here and heal him, Sakura. He saved Sasuke, he may be able to do more than that. What he knows is. . ." He took a trembling breath. "What he knows could save Konoha." He squeezed her arms before letting her go. Pain... his whole body was in pain. He forced him self not to shake.

Sai stood and stepped up next to him. "You will not make it in your condition."

"And you won't make it in yours." He argued softly. "You may not see the value in your life, Sai, but to me. . ." Suddenly the ground shook so violently they all toppled again. Cracks opened up and divided the land. Over the rumble Naruto heard Sakura scream. White snakes burst up from the chasms and spread over the land. Some reared up, baring fangs, others rushed to engage them in battle, defending Sai.

"SAI!" He called over the tumultuous noise. "Use the snakes to your advantage! Get Sakura out of here. Protect her!" He looked back and saw Sai scooping her up in to his arms.

"I will return!" The dark haired teen called out. He disappeared as more snakes converged on the spot where he had been.

Naruto tried to stand, but the ground was still heaving violently. He squeezed his eyes shut against the rumblings. Fire red and pricing yellow filled his vision. Torture, malevolence, dread. . . He forced his eyes open and gasped. Crawling forward on his elbows he inched his way towards the opening. As he neared a new thought entered his mind.

If the ground collapsed he would be buried alive.

His whole body shivered. _Fear_. "STOP! Stop being afraid!" He grit his teeth as the Raccoon trashed with in him. It shook the very foundations of his inner world as the ground beneath him started to crumble. He bit back a whimper.

As the ground began to fall away from him he got to his feet and scrambled forward, his mind momentarily locked on to the need to get away from the reality of being buried alive. He pressed pasted several skakes, nearly blind with sunfire yellow panic, before he very nearly stumbled in to the hole he'd been trying to reach in the first place. He yelped and jumped back to a clear patch of ground.

The world rumbled again and an evil sounding hiss floated up from the darkness. Rocks began to tremble, then bounce. Shaking like a leaf him self naruto inched back and tried to swallow his terror.

"Jin – chu – ri - ki." Rising from the depths Madra burst forth from the underground and towered over the landscape. His tongue flicked out like a smooth, forked, blade. "I will kill you."

Naruto's body flooded with an emotion so cold, so deep, that it chilled him to the bone and froze him in place. Fangs as large as he was glittered like katana in the sun. Venom dripped from them in slow motion. As large as the hole in the ground the Serpents throat gaped wide before him.

The snake hissed and started to lunge. Beyond panic, beyond terror, Naruto crossed his arms in front of his face and _**screamed**_.

…...

Tsunade wandered the dark halls ignoring the looks and whispers following her. She didn't know where she was going, and she didn't care. It was to hard to think, to hard to fight. The cold crystal in her fingers was the only thing that felt real now. The blood that was dripping from her palm, slicking it's perfectly smooth sides, fell in crimson drops at her feet.

She took a shakking step and stumbled in to the wall. Her fist squeezed tighter and she slumped. "N-Naruto." She wanted to cry, but there were no tears. "Sakura."

"Tsunade?" large, soft, warm hands gripped her shoulders.

"Thank you Jiraya. I'm sorry I lost my head back there."

He pulled her from the wall and started leading her somewhere. Where they were going she didn't know, and she still didn't care. She followed him through the dark halls till they reached a door that opened in to an ally way. From there he lead her, down quiet streets and deserted ally ways, towards the Hokage tower. She wanted to protest, but didn't have enough will power to do so.

"We need to collect our thoughts." He said when they turned the last corner. His hand shifted to the small of her back. Less like leading, more like supporting. "We need to asses what we have and make plans off of that information."

She nodded. The sounds of a fight started to fill the air.

"Get him Kouta!"

"I'm trying, Osamu, but this sucker is just to fast!"

She wasn't sure she recognized the voices, but when she looked up she instantly knew who the target was. Hiashi, head of the Hyuga clan. His fists glowed with blue, and killing intent filled the air. A red headed woman was glaring at him from the main doors of the tower.

"Maybe, Kouta, you should lay off the dango once in a while. I'll bet you would be shocked at how much faster you could be if you lost a couple of pounds."

The brown haired man dodged a wild punch. "Have I ever told you I hate you, Shiori?" The punch landed in the plaster behind him sending cracks all the way up to the third floor windows. "Wow, do you work out? Because that's a lovely left hook you have got there."

Hiashi nearly roared.

Jiraya let Tsunade go. "He's gone mad!" He clenched his fists. "Every one here is going mad!" He made a move forward, but Tsunade stopped him.

"Kouta, keep him there." Osamu called.

Kouta dodged another punch. "No problem!" Hiashi slammed his fist in to the wall inches from his head again. More cracks soared up the building. "You know, in hind sight, I think we need more than just sworded and knives. I really, really do."

Osamu, adjusting his glasses, pulled out a scroll. "Yes, we'll have to write up a formal request." He unrolled the scroll and read it over carefully.

"Any time buddy!" Kouta forced a toothy, though worried, grin as Hiashi clapped his palms together and started charging his chakra for another attack.

"This takes a careful planing and execution, it can not be rushed." Osamu Said calmly.

Hiashi Flared with a lethal glow. From the safety of the doors five feet away Shiori cupped her hands to her mouth and called over the swirling rush of air. "You can do it, Kouta!"

"Do what? Take a punch? I'd rather take a NAP!"

Tsunade watched with growing agitation as Hiashi brought his fists down and slammed them in to the wall just above Kouta's head. She let go of her gem and for the first time took stock of the world around her. She brought her finger tips to her temple and took a breath.

Where had she been? What was she doing now?

Osamu gave his partner a flat frown as he brought his hands up and formed a couple of signs. "I'm not sure quite how this goes, but if this works Kouta, he should be bound by his own chakra."

"And if it doesn't?" Kouta asked with a cringe. Hiashi was charging his fists again.

"Then I will accidentally blast a crater in to the street. It may wipe out half of the city."

Kouta gulped. "Wait, Osamu, remember what happened last time...?" But it was to late. Osamu formed the last sign and green energy shot from the unrolled scroll to Hiashi. The man started to swing down, but was slowed and finally stopped, his clasped hands just an inch from Kouta's nose. Kouta scrambled out from under Hiashi and took a relieved breath.

"Osa. . . you little kidder, you knew you could do that the whole time!"

Shiori cheered and ran and tossed her arms around the blond security guard. "OH, Osamu. . . you were wonderful!"

His cheeks turned a little red as he glanced at her. "Actually I had no idea if that would work. I'm just glad we are all alive right now." He adjusted his glasses again and started to roll up the scroll neatly.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she took her attention from the secretary and the two guards, and looked Hiashi over. The dark haired man was glaring back at her. She stepped away from Jiraya. Naruto was gone. The kind hearted teacher, Iruka, had gone insane. Kakashi was no longer a functioning member of her forces. And this man had the audacity to threaten her staff.

"Tsunade?" Jiraya asked. She tossed him a glare as she stepped away from him. Energy crackled from her clenched fists.

"Hyuga Hiashi." She growled. "Who in the hell do you think you are?"

His face hardened even as he was trapped. The three office personal scurried way from her, sensing danger they could not fight. She reached out and grabbed Osamu by the vest collar before pulling him close. "Let him go."

"Y-y-yes, ma'am." He made hand signs and the green energy faded. Hiashi stood and rolled his neck with a half subdued grumble.

"I want the three of you back in side." He shoved Osamu away and watched with little satisfaction as they ran from her. Hiashi stood his ground defiantly. She squelched the growing urge to slam her knuckles through his head protector.

"I've been looking for you." He said calmly. A master of ceremonial appearance and leadership. She wanted to rip him in half.

"Why?"

"I believe Might Guy and his students are plotting to kill my youngest daughter." He replied smoothly. All traces of his former agression had been pressed back so firmly it had vanished.

She glared at him. Her breath started to come in tight, slow, gasps. Anger filled her and she glared. Glared and wanted to throw him in to the wall. She pressed her own feelings down, but only enough to keep her hands clenched at her sides and no more.

"Do you honestly expect me to put any faith in that statement?" She stepped up to him and seethed. "Might Guy has been nothing but the most exemplary man concerning children, the clans they belong to, and the village as a whole." She could see the energy in his eyes, the rejection of her athority over him. "Give me one good reason why he would even considering harming one of our children." She could see Jiraya stepping up beside her out of the corner of her eye. He was folding his arms over his chest, looking as angry as she was.

"The elders. . ." Heashi began. Tsunade grabbed him by his perfectly straight collar and lifted him off his heals, cutting the sentence off.

"I don't care." Her grip tightened. "I've had a bad day. And it's only going to get worse." She growled the last word. All she could think about was ripping him in half, it would feel good to do so, to get all of her anger out on someone.

Jiraya reached out and touched her arm. "_Hokage_." He wasn't addressing her, but reminding her. She let Hiashi go with a shove. He stumbled back and landed hard on his seat in the dirt.

Jiraya turned to him and frowned. "What is this nonsense you speak of? Tell me and tell me quick!"

Hiashi looked angry, but quelled the sudden rush of chakra. "My nephew attempted to kill him self, and it was reviled to me that he and my eldest daughter may be trying to plot the assassination of my youngest. He may have failed his plan and attempted to regain his honor with out disgracing the clan. I'm not a fool. I do not believe Hinata is the instigator, she has no spine, no grit. I believe Neji has turned her against the main house."

"And Guy?" Jiraya demanded. Tsunade felt her nails dig in to her own palms.

"He has taken Neji, and Hinata is no where to be found. Guy and his students have been missing for nearly a full day under suspicious circumstances. I want him labeled as a missing ninja." He was calm, even thrown down like trash in the street he held on to his lofty Hyuga amused power.

Tsunade suppressed another hot growl and felt her anger turn cold. "I don't have time for this." She turned on her heel and started towards the main doors.

"Wait!" Hiashi picked him self up and jumped in front of her. "At least send men to investigate."

"Why don't you do it?" Jiraya asked, trying to get rid of the annoyance. "You have a whole clan to back you up."

Hiashi frowned, deeply, he was loosing his calm facade. "I can not investigate some one out side of the clan. I can not track Guy down as I am neither a high enough raked shinobi out side of my clan, or a member of the police." He glared at Tsunade darkly. "Not that the people you call police are worth any thing any way. Since the slaughter of the Uchiha has there been any police force to even mention?"

Jiraya rumbled, irritated. "Fine, then YOU take over the police force. Make that clan of yours actually useful to the rest of the village."

Hiashi blinked. "Wh-what?" He turned to Tsunade. "Lady Hokage. . ."

"Don't start addressing me politely, Hyuga." She pointed to the tower's wall. "Not after what you have done." She pulled her finger back and looked him over, the cold of hatred rolled through her and seeped out every poor. "You are right, however." She almost wanted to smile. Giving him a position to serve the village, to wallow in it's most petty crimes, was almost some thing that made her laugh. She could see him bogged down with the complaints of little old women who'd lost items in the street, merchants arguing over the placements of sell signs. . . The squabbles of civilians. . . "There is no police force to mention and we will need a force soon." She bit back a cruel smirk. "This village will start to panic when the news of Naruto's death spreads. There will be riots." She stepped around Hiashi, reveling in the knowledge that he'd be out of her hair. "I second Jiraya's orders. YOU are now the head of police. Your clan will enforce the law, as the Uchiha once did. Do not disappoint me!"

As she walked away she could see his reflection in the big double glass doors. He was staring after her, his jaw slack, and his eyes wide. "Y-yes, Lady Tsunade." It was better than crushing him instantly. This would be a slow death, one of his own doing.

Jiraya gave him a cold stare, then followed after her. The moment she was in the lobby here the three who had been out side snapped to attention.

"I want the appropriate forms for position assignment given to Hiashi. The position is chief of Police. I want it done now."

While startled the secretary nodded her red head once. "Yes your ladyship. I'll do it now."

She looked the guards over. The one with the brown hair was bleeding slightly from a cut on his ear. She reached out and touched it.

"You three did a commendable job. I will look in to granding your request for more high powered weapons."

Kouta looked thrilled while Osamu simply nodded his thanks.

She pulled her hand away and walked off, her eyes never once looking back. Anger was starting to build with in her again. Hot violent anger. The vision of her former teammate's pale face, smiling, guiding her little brother. . . killing Naruto. . . She stomped up the stairs and made her way to her office. With a snarl she slammed the door open and strode up to the window.

She wanted to kill some one. She wanted to rip the world apart and find Orochimaru. She wanted to watch him beg her for mercy. She sucked the air in, swelling her chest, she felt like she wanted to expload.

Jiraya entered after her and closed the door quietly. He was subdued, wounded, and she could feel his energy bleeding out like sluggish tears.

She took a deep breath in through tightly clenched teeth, her chest heaved once more. "I want him dead."

"He's just worried about his daughter. . ."

"Not the Hyuga fool." She turned about and clutched the window sill with blood red nails. "I want Orochimaru, I want him at my feet begging me to spare him." She scraped at the wood and brought her fists up. "I want him to beg me for mercy and I want to crush him!" Hot tears started to spring up in her eyes. Angrily, _vehemently_, she tore the gem from her neck threw it, hard as she could, across the room. It smashed in to the wall and dropped, a glittering ice blue prism, glowing in a dagger beam of light. "I WANT HIM DEAD!"

The tears would not stop. She pressed her palms in to her eyes and tried to swallow it all, the pain and the rage, but a soft touch disrupted her resolve.

"Go away!" She pulled back, but hit the glass behind her. "Go away, I've been a fool. An old, _stupid_ fool." Rage melted. She felt her own heart wounded. Her own energy started to poor out, like blood.

"Tsunade." Pity and tender sympathy was thick in his voice. Like soft velvet. She turned from him and pressed her forehead in to the glass. The five carved figures of the Hokage's greeted her, silent, judging. "You are crying."

She turned again, to the side, and drew her arms close. Her hands were shaking. He reached out and touched her again. "I've only seen you cry twice. . ." His voice trailed off and he looked across the room at the fallen necklace. "Tsunade."

She felt the warmth of his hands, and the knowing. . . the understanding. She looked up at him. Sorrow, so deep and profound she wasn't sure she could even feel it, was in his eyes. She took a sniffling, shivering breath, and berried her head in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her.

"I've been such a fool." She closed her eyes and clutched at his robes. "Such an old fool. I can never be a Hokage. Why? Why did you ask me?"

"Because you are the only one who could do what had to be done here. You are the only one who can do what has to be done here." He lifted her head by the chin. "You are the only one strong enough to do what you have done."

"Strong enough?" She shook her head. "You mean cold enough. I nearly killed one loyal man. For what good did I do? Sakura is dead." She pulled her head out of his grip. "And Naruo." Again she buried her head in his chest. "I can't thank you enough."

"For what?" He asked.

"If it weren't for you Kakashi would be dead. And you took command when I was to struck dumb to move, to think. You picked up what this old maid dropped."

"Don't talk like that." He held her close. "We are all in shock." He rubbed her back for a moment before pulling her away again. "Tsunade, I don't want you alone tonight. Let me stay at your place."

She frowned, just a little.

"I'll sleep on the floor. In the kitchen, just. . ." There was nothing but empty pain in his eyes. "Just don't be alone tonight. Not tonight. Not when we have so few guarding the city. It's not safe."

She dipped her head low. "What does it matter if I'm taken in the night now? For all the good I have done a child could do my job, and better."

He gripped her a little tighter. "But you are the Hokage. And your people need you."

She stood, feeling the eyes of the previous four on her back from beyond the glass. Especially the Fourth. "I've allowed the death of your student's child. How can you still look at me?"

"Did you kill him?" he asked.

She looked up.

"When Orochimaru comes I will be angry then. But until I see his face I can only hope to save this village, because Minato, and Naruto, loved it so much, despite of the pain it caused them both." He rubbed her arms, soothingly. "Please, at least do that much."

She took one of his hands in both of hers. "We'll both kill him, together." She smiled a broken, sad, smile. "And then I will step down from my position."

Slowly, with the look of a broken spirit, he nodded. "One last fight then. Together."

…...

Asuma watched as orderlies took Iruka way on a stretcher as Shizune hovered protectively over him. Ino was following them, asking questions he couldn't quite make out. From behind him he could hear Shikamaru banging the back of his head against the wall.

He turned to look at his student. Shikamaru's eyes were distant and unfocused. Next to him Kiba was slowly lowering him self down the wall to the floor. Deflated. Defeated.

"There's more to this than insanity, Asuma." Shikamaru said slowly. "I'm going to find out what it is." The tone of his voice was so dry, so hollow and cold, that Asuma stepped back just a little. "I will avenge Choji."

"Choji isn't dead." Kiba argued from where he was crouched. "I'm sure he'll be fine." He added.

"Then I'll take vengeance for your dog."

"The Inuzuka do not believe in vengeance." He looked up. "Only in justice."

Shikamaru stopped baning his head against he wall and looked down. "I am not an Inuzuka." He stepped away from the wall and started walking towards the doors. There was a cool calm about him that seemed to suck the light out of his aria. His shadow seemed to ooze behind him sluggishly.

"Where are you going?" Asuma asked. "Don't you want to wait here to see how the operation goes?"

Shikamaru paused and looked back over his shoulder expressionless. "No." He left the lobby and let the doors swing closed behind him. Asuma watched him as he walked away until the all people out side masked his movements. In one afternoon all three of his students had left his side in one way or another.

Wearily he turned to look down at Kiba. "Are you all right?"

Kiba looked up with dull eyes. ". . .What?"

Asuma stepped up to him and offered his hand. "Why don't I take you home?"

Kiba took his han and stood, but shook his head. "I can't go home right now. But if you could tell my mother to find me . . ." He trailed off for a moment, looking dazed. "I need to tell her . . ."

Asuma nodded slowly. "Where will you be?"

"She'll be able to track me."

He nodded. "I'm sorry Kiba, had I know that this is how things would have turned out I would have done some thing different."

Kiba pulled his jacket up a little higher and tighter. "The Inuzuka do not think of the past, Asuma Sensei. We live for the now, or we try to." He too walked away, and out of the building.

Asuma sighed and slowly made his way to look for the operating waiting room. He'd find a messenger to tell Kiba's mother to track him down. Then he'd wait. Wait for the outcome of Choji's operation and hope, earnestly, that he wouldn't be joining the ranks of Kakashi for looses that day.

…...

There was a moment when endless agony was sure, then a flash of paper white and ink black separated Naruto from his doom. They were soaring, flying through the air, above the snakes. He was being held tight on top of a paper bird. Naruto, mouth still open, but mute, turned slowly, to face his rescuer. Sai's calm, though not quite well looking face, stared back at him.

"Sai!" Naruto _CLUNG_. "Sai. . ." He said again as the adrenalin started to surge and frazzle his nerves. He'd been so terrified he'd almost lost the ability to feel it. "You. . . saved. . . me." He gasped and let his head down. He was shaking again, shaking so hard he was afraid he'd fall off. The Raccoon was still thrashing, and now the Fox was becoming angry.

The dark haired teen quirked an eye brow. "I did say I was coming back."

Naruto nodded, his mouth to dry to speak.

"You MUST get a hold of your fear." Sai said then as he gave Naruto a small shake. "You have got to calm down."

"I know." Naruto shifted his grip and swallowed. "I'm trying." He licked his dry lips and closed his eyes. More red and yellow. The colors of his own personal purgatory.

"As much as you dislike ANBU perhaps you should consider using some of it's emotional rendering techniques."

Naruto nodded. "Have any I can use. . . on the fly?" It occurred to him that his word could have been misconstrued as a pun. He hadn't meant it that way. Sai did not seem to notice.

"Only one comes to mind in this situation." Sai replied. "But it is not pleasant to experience, and you will be forever changed by the process."

"I've been dead twice." Naruto managed to sit up this time, only to realise that flying held a terror all of it's own. "There is no need to be delicate with me, I'll never be the _same_ after that." He felt nauseous.

"Very well. It's simple, but may be highly effective." The paper bird tilted and they began to fly around the massive serpentine brawl. "You must envision your self killing the five people you most care for."

Naruto's stomach lurched. Every night in his dreams he'd killed his most precocious people. It was his hell all over again. He'd torn every one apart. Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, Jiraya (Who he'd really nearly killed, _horror and rage_), Iruka. . . over and over the moment he'd closed his eyes. "I can't. I can't do that again." His heart was beating so fast it was trembling.

"You must accept that in order to be an effective weapon for your village you must render your bonds null. You must, in essence, become as emotionless as the metal weapons you wield."

"No, there has to be another way!" He forced him self to sit up. "I refuse to sever my bonds!" He looked down at the snakes, at Madra. "I refuse to let any one die before me."

Sai looked at him quietly for a moment. "Your beliefs do not fit with the way of the Ninja."

"Then maybe I am not a very good Ninja." Naruto stood, despite the fear rolling through him, despite the tilt of the paper bird. It was more steady than a branch in the wind, more solid than the shaking ground. "In fact, I'm probably the most uncool ninja of all time. It's takes me forever to learn even the most basic things. I'm always trying to catch up to every body, and I'm still just a gennin. But. . ." He clenched his fists. "I never go back on my word!"

Naruto turned and looked down at Sai with determination. "I said I wouldn't let any one see those drawings. I promised."

"Naruto. . ."

Panic crashed around him, but he, like the paper bird, would not sink in to the fray. He would NOT sever his bonds just because he was afraid. "Bring us down."

Sai looked up at him, his eyes still void of feeling. Naruto frowned. This void. . . this was what ANBU did to a person. "Your chance of winning. . ."

"I have to take the risk." He smiled a little. "For Sakura, for you. . . For every one."

Slowly Sai nodded. "Then I will join you."

"No. . ."

"I can not stop you, and you can not stop me." He smiled, thinly, but it was genuine. It washed away a lot of the fear.

"All right. Lets go. I'll take on the Snake, you go for the book."

Sai nodded.

…...

Sakura sat in the dark, some what unsure what had just happened. She looked around and tried to gather her bearings, but the room was so vast and so empty that she could have been any where in the complex. She rubbed her legs and stood.

Sai had dumped her here. Dumped her and told her not to get in the way. She clenched a fist. He'd given her a fake smile and then disappeared.

Son of Orochimaru? What was his true mission?

She started walking towards her only point of interest, a flickering light in the distance. Even though her legs hurt her growing indignation recharged her. The flicker was green, but she was starting to see red.

She hadn't been able to help Naruto. She was still unable to help him. Under her feet the ground trembled. She ground her teeth. Naruto had been tortured his whole life and she'd done nothing. _Nothing_.

The flickering was from a screen. Some one had left a computer on.

Blue light flared to life from her hands. She pressed her palms against her neck and slowly slid them down. Over her chest, down her stomach. . .

The computer was flashing a single picture.

She skimmed her thighs and slid her hands down each leg. The wounds faded.

Stepping up to the computer she sat down in the chair and seized the controls. Staring back at here was a picture of a dark haired woman with pig tails tied at her jaw line. The label was 'Dove'.

Sakura closed out the picture and started to search the system for any information that would be helpful. If she couldn't fight then maybe she could find another way to assist Naruto. In no time she found the blue prints to the hide out.

She was near the core where all of the most important supplies were held. Clothing, weapons, food, medical. . . it was all with in reach.

She smiled as one more thing caught her eye.

It was the 'self destruct' command.

…...

Ino followed the teacher and the healer for as far as she could, demanding answers From Shizune, before she was forced to stay back as they rushed the teacher through another set of doors to the psyche ward. It had been a fruitless effort as Shizune would say nothing, only that Iruka was suffering from the loss of Naruto.

That in of it's self hadn't registered at the time. Now, as Ino picked her way through the halls, avoiding eye contact with any one she knew in the building, the reality was dawning on her. Sakura had always been the Hokage's favorite, and even though rivalry was not some thing a woman stooped to, Ino had felt her self in close competition with her pink haired ex-classmate. She wrapped her arms around her chest and walked close to the wall as she realised Sakura hadn't been so much in her way, but the one she was always trying to match in skill and strength.

With out Sakura the medical division would suffer a huge blow. Ino swallowed back her growing anguish log enough to think about the right now. Choji was hurt, but alive. Here her mind could cling to some hope, if it was only a sliver at best.

Shizune had done what she could in the ally, but moments after she had left the teen had crashed again. Obviously the damage had been either far more extensive than they had thought, or it had been an attack that continued to deal damage over and over again. Either way, she knew, he was going to be in the best care possible.

Or the best care there could be with out Sakura.

She found her self next to the surgical waiting room and peered in side. Asuma was sitting forward in his chair with his face buried in his hands. A thin woman Ino only half recognised as one of the hospital's desk workers, was taking information from him.

The whole sight churned Ino's stomach. Before she could be ill she hurried away. All she wanted was to go home, sleep, and wake up to this having been a nightmare.

…...

Kiba had no idea where he was going. His team was gone and his sensei was no longer active leaving him totally alone. His feet wandered, following his nose, until he was back in the ally way. TO his surprise Akamaru's body was already gone. He only vaguely remembered the medical staff around the lifeless pile of fur, but at the time he'd thought they were checking him for signs of life. Then, as now, he'd given life no hope.

The sent of death was not strong here, but it was still tangible in the air.

Wearily, numbly, he leaned against the wall and sank down.

…...

Naruto held tight as Sai brought the paper bird around. Diving low they saw the writhing mass of white snakes locked in fierce, deadly, combat. Many were eating each other. The huge blue purple snake, Madra, was pulling him self out of the collapsed underground. He was taking his time while assessing the situation.

Naruto caught another look at his fangs and felt his heart skip a beat. His knees weekend and he fought to keep his resolve.

"Naruto, remain focused."

"I. . ." He sucked in a breath. "It's the tailed beasts. The Raccoon is afraid. I can feel his fear more keenly than I can feel the Fox's rage." He sucked in a breath as the panic swelled again. "I have to talk to him."

"Talk to who?" Sai asked.

Naruto closed his eyes. "The beasts." The outer world dissolved and Naruto found him self once more in his own inner world. In the far corner the Raccoon was curled up and snarling. Cornered looking, like a caged animal. It's yellow fir was standing up like razor blades, and it's teeth shown like daggers. Swell after swell of raw terror rolled off of it, but here, in his own world, Naruto could better separate his feeling from the feelings of the beasts with in. Here he could identify the source and try to block it.

"Stop... Stop being afraid." He pressed past the waves of fear and moved towards the Raccoon. "You have nothing to be a afraid of."

A fragment of a memory flashed in to Naruto's mind. Sand was every where, sand, and more sand. The feeling of people and weapons. Killing intent and a child crying.

"Garra." Naruto choked out the name and clutched his chest. How could they? How could they hate him so much? "I'm not Garra."

The Fox stood, feeling Naruto's anger, and smiled. "Lets take vengeance."

A flash of blood and the unsatisfying crunch of bone flashed in to Naruto's mind next. Garra had killed, and the panic had died. But it had never gone away, not completely. They had always hatted him, feared him. Fragment after fragment of Garra's life flickered before Naruto's mind. Fear and pain, fear and pain.

Angry. He wanted to kill them all for what they had done. Red bubbles filled his inner world.

"Yes. Lets seek revenge." The Fox leered. "Lets show the world what we can do. Naruto. Who do you want to kill?"

…...

Sakura leaned back in the computer chair with a smirk. The base would detonate in twenty minutes. She could be out side safely away from the fight in five. That would give her just enough time to gather up some supplies for her and her team before she had to go.

She picked up a disk, and nearly grinned. The whole of Orochimaru's secrets were now in her hands. People, experiments, locations, summons, every thing. . . It was all hers. She felt like the cat who'd gotten the cream.

Standing she turned of them monitor and walked towards the room's exit with a nearly slinky proud saunter to her steps. The stone floor was cold against her feet, but she would have that remedied soon. The hall was abandoned as all of the living creatures had either fled, or joined the fight above. She was free to roam the base as she pleased. Knowing she'd be undisturbed she took her time to enter the main supply room and pick out her new cloths.

A black cat suit and thick black combat pants were the first things she grabbed. Next were the toe protecting snake boots. Also black. A gray flack vest finished the simple look. She'd never had a flack vest on before and now, but as she fingered the hidden protective steel bands sewn in to it's body she wondered why she'd never been given one before.

Gennin or no she'd been in some very bad fights. As she filled the vest with medical supplies and weapons she resolved to never enter in to a fight with out a vest again.

After she was satisfied with her self she gathered two more matching sets of the same outfit for the boys. Including the boots. When fighting snakes, she reasoned, there was no sense in leaving ones skin exposed where they could strike.

After she bundled it all up she was about to leave when she spotted one more thing on a shelf. She snatched it up and stuffed it in to her pocket with a satisfied grin.

…...

Naruto was on his knees, his hands over his ears, as he cried out in rage and terror. It wasn't HIS rage or terror. It had never been his.

"Stop. . . making me. . . _feel_. . . what _you_ . . . feel!" He couldn't be angry now. He couldn't be afraid. These emotions were the very ones a true ninja was supposed to purge from their minds. Desperately he tried to feel some thing else. A warmth, a kindness, a loving moment.

_"Don't." He hung his head, realizing what had happened. The seal was in little tatters, only holding on by threads of thin chakra. One more time, one more loss of control, and it would all be over. "I'm a monster." He felt tears bubbling up in the corners of his eyes. "I'm a monster! I'M A HORRIBLE MONSTER!"_

Wasn't his fault.

_Naruto closed his eyes and felt the tears streaming down his face. "Kill me."_

He grit his teeth. Was there nothing good left? He fought harder, deeper, less resent.

_"Fear." He said in a near whisper. His eyes darkened and Naruto caught the look of a soulless, ANBU, killer. "Is my weapon of choice." The same sort of soulless look he'd seen in all killers. The eyes lacked compassion, empathy, humanity, they looked like empty, hungry voids. Naruto's heart suddenly rammed it's way up his throat as panic flooded him when he instinctively compared them to the eyes he'd seen over and over in his dreams. He gulped and jumped back, momentarily terrified beyond reason._

That wasn't it either. Farther... there had to be SOMETHING!

_Naruto scoffed softly and stepped back to the bed. He sank down and gazed at the floor. "It's like I said, you were dieing, dead, Tsunade gave up on you. Sakura and I wouldn't."_

_"I don't feel like I was almost dead." Kakashi said, more to him self than to the blond._

_"Your heart stopped beating, you weren't breathing." Naruto replied quietly. He looked back up at him with deep sad eyes. "All I wanted was for you to wake me up if I had a nightmare, not fight my battles for me."_

He growled, frustrated, and felt the rage start to out weigh the fear.

"Good, Naruto" The Fox said in a sickly soothing voice. "Take my rage."

_"Don't let me go." She was still crying. They'd stepped back away from the bed and settled on the floor some time before. For the last hour they had set in silence. He'd finally shifted when his leg, the one she was leaning on, was going numb._

_"Never."_

_She sniffed and looked up with large lugubrious eyes. "I'm sorry."_

_"For what?"_

_"I know I'm not supposed to cry."_

_He chuckled dryly. "Look at my eyes."_

_She stared at him before smiling a little. "You are crying."_

_"Some ninja we are." He leaned his head back and shifted again._

_"Naruto."_

_"Yeah?"_

_She curled back up in to him. "I think you are the most amazing ninja that has ever lived."_

He balled up his fists. Tight, but with out anger. She believed in him. Maybe belief wasn't enough to win a battle, but it was a good place to start to fight one. He opened his eyes back up and glared at the Fox.

_"You and Kakashi. . ." He was smiling, though he knew she could see the pain still lacing it's way over his features. ". . .you are my family. I don't want to hurt you, and I don't ever want to hurt him. Never, never gain. That's why this time I'm going to win."_

"I don't want to kill any one!" He struggled to his feet and stabbed a finger towards the huge red monster. "You want to kill, but for what reason? You lack compassion, empathy!" He took a step towards the Fox and glanced at the seal. "You have no human sympathy, not will to love or care for another. But what do you live for then? Is revenge all you have?"

The Fox's chest swelled. "Revenge is all there is left, human."

"No." Naruto turned and looked at the Raccoon. "And you, live only in fear and panic. But from what? You are a tailed beast. What do you have to fear? You are not trapped here, you came of your own free will, and you can leave of your own free will. I will not stop you!"

The Raccoon pulled it's lips back in a snarl, but no sound came.

"As long as you are here, as long as you are with in my care, I will NOT let any thing hurt you." He glanced back at the Fox. "Or you. Do you think I would give either of you up to the Akastuki? Do you think I want to see you _suffer_?"

The Fox lowered his head. "And do you, Naruto of the village hidden in the leaves, think I care what you want?"

Naruto stared back for a moment before nodding. "Yes." He stepped up and grabbed the cage bars. "You have to care because your existence depends on mine. I'm not an immortal. I am a human being. I can list a hundred ways to kill my self and rid the world of both of you." He thrust off the bars and walked to the aria between them. "Killing you would rid the world of your evil, yes. And maybe it's what I ought to do."

The Raccoon trilled and curled up tighter. Fox Stood taller. "Then what stops you?"

Naruto turned and gave the Nine Tiled beast a small smile. "I can't die because I'm going to be the next Hokage!" He gave the Fox his best thumbs up. "Even though it would seem right to the humans for me to die and take you both with me, I will not! As long as you are with me I will protect you, I promise!"

The Raccoon tilted it's head and uncurled a little. There were no memory flashes. No one had ever proclaimed to protect it, he desided, and felt him self calm. Stepping up to it he smiled as big and as friendly as he could. "Hey, you can count one me. I never go back on my word! So try not to be so afraid, OK?"

The panic was slowing. It lifted it's head a little and licked at it's teeth nervously.

"That's right! Be a good boy. Relax, OK?" He pulled him self out of his inner world, as he spoke to them once more. "When I'm Hokage I'll make sure you guys are never miss-used again! BELIVE IT!"

There had to be away to kill the snake with out being eaten alive. Hadn't Sakura killed one of the larger ones?

. . . Sakura . . .

_She reached the peak of her jump and started to descend, all the while the serpent seemed oblivious. _Seemed_. As she fell it suddenly opened it's mouth and to Naruto's horror swallowed her whole._

_"SAKURA!"_

_He took another step forward but stopped when he realized the snake was starting to glow from the inside out. He backed away, this time his feat found the edge of the cliff. He glanced back and wondered if he ought to risk descending just a little ways when he heard the snake hiss again. Looking back at hit he saw a large stretch of it's body bloating. It started to writhe and vomit. . . then it exploded in a grotesque shower of sparks and gore._

_As spray of blood and meat chunks rained down on him Naruto blinked. Sakura was again flying through the air, though this time it wasn't as controlled as it had been before. She landed hard in front of him and skidded on her side up to his feet._

_"Sakura are you all. . ."_

_"Done." She announced as she hopped back up and wiped some slime from her face._

He smiled.

Sai was watching him, his face still passive. "You seem calmer."

"Its not me, it's them. The Raccoon. . ." He pressed his hand in to his stomach. "He's so different from the Fox." He turned his attention to the snakes below. "Bring me down again, Sai, I'll take on the snakes, you get the book."

Sai nodded. "Where do you want to be dropped?"

"Right in front of the big one. I will not be afraid of it!" He started to make hand signs. "I will not loose. I will return to the village and I will become Hokage!"

…...

Sakura opened the hidden hatch and found her self on the top of a hill that over looked the fight. She spotted Naruto and Sai on a paper bird. The bird circled twice before diving. Naruto and two clones leaped from the paper back. A blue glow flared to life between them as they fell towards the huge open mouth of Madra. Naruto fell in, his fist a blue blaze.

Sakura gasped as he was swallowed whole. The world seemed to still. Many of the waring snakes stopped and turned their attention to the huge purple summon. It lifted it's head high and flicked it's tongue. Sakura clutched at the collar of her vest, anxious.

The only movement was Sai as he disappeared in to the big underground.

Time stood still. She waited with bated breath as she watched the large snake start to slither away. A blue glow started to show from it's body. Then red and yellow mixed in. The huge snake suddenly reared it's head again and hissed in rage. The glow brightened and the serpent writhed.

Sakura shifted the bundle she was carrying and griped it tightly.

The huge snake hissed and thrashed as the glow continued to brighten to a nearly blinding level. Then, with an enormously loud report, the whole front of the serpent exploded. A rain of gore showered the masses of white snakes, turning them all red. Naruto was flung high in to the air, limp, lifeless. . . Sakura bit back a cry as she watched to far away to help.

White paper and black ink wings soared from the depths of the earth and met Naruto as he started to fall. Sakura slumped, relived, and loosened her grip on the pack. But as she looked again she saw the paper bird was dissolving. She'd only been able to pull so much of the venom out of Sai.

The paper craft started to descend, right in to the mass of waring gory snakes.

Sakura straightened up and pulled the thing she had found from her pocket. It was a dull white bottle. She tore the top off and took out one of the small pills from with in.

"I'm not going to be useless any more!"

She tossed the pill back and felt a _**RUSH**_ of energy surge through her. "NARUTO I'M coming!"

…...

Naruto wasn't really sure what all had happened, but he knew it had been potently the biggest thing he'd ever done while not over come by the Fox.

After the snake had swallowed him and his clones he'd dig in to the snakes throat to keep from sinking all the way to the stomach. With Rasanga in his hand he searched for the snakes heart as best he could. Once he was as near as he could get with out being digested he slammed the blue swirl of energy in to the side of Madra's throat.

To his horror the snake had resisted with a wall of chakra. His attack wasn't strong enough. He was going to sink in to the hell Sai had mentioned. Some hoe, how ever, he wasn't even a little bit afraid. Digging deep for more chakra he felt waves of chakra from the beasts with in that they had shed while engaged in combat. Free floating with in him it was easy to channel and press in to the Rasangan.

Red and yellow mixed with the blue.

After that things just stopped. As Naruto lifted his head from the paper bird he realized he'd probably been knocked out bu the blast. He could feel bones mending and flesh reforming. It was a miracle he still had Sasuke's tunic on. Though it was definitely worse for weir now.

He got to his knees and looked around. They were going down.

"Sai?"

The dark haired teen was breathing heavily behind him and shaking on his hands and knees. With his head low he lifted his hand and held out his book. "T-take it."

Naruto grabbed the hand holding the book and pulled Sai closer. "No, it's not mine. Just hold on. Try to get us clear of the fight."

Sai heaved a breath in and looked up. His eyes were glassy and red. "I don't know if I can."

"You have to Sai!" Naruto pulled him to a sitting position. "Listen to me, you can not give up!" He grabbed Sai's arms firmly. "You are worth more than you think you are!"

"I am a tool, crafted to serve the Village. I am broken, no longer effective."

Naruto gave him a small shake. "You are human being! Not a tool!" The bird lurched and started to fall. Naruto glanced down and saw snakes eager to devourer them both. Naruto tried to pull more chakra from his system, but there was none. "Sai, you have to pull us up!"

Sai brought his hands up and shuddered with the effort. The bird started to level out.

"Good, keep going."

Sai grunted and grit his teeth. Paie laced his features and he shuddered again. The bird started to fall. In agony he cried out, then fell limp. Naruto held him close as he turned and looked at the sea of fangs and scales below. The paper bird started to unravel and there was nothing more Naruto could do. He scooped Sai up and prepared to hit the ground hard.

One snake lifted above the others. "Masssster!"

"I have your master! Catch!" he gave Sai a toss and the Snake caught him. It ducked low in to the fray and disappeared. Naruto continued to fall. He spread his hands and feet wide and aimed for one larger snake. Rreaching in he grabbed more of the stray tailed Beast Chakra and braced him self.

The snake moved and he struck the ground. Every thing wen black for just a moment before he opened his eyes again. Pain was every where. He hissed and tried to sit up, but nothing would respond. Yellow chakra engulfed him and his body mended double time. He scrambled to his knees and looked around. A huge white snake was lunging for him, mouth open.

Panic! He couldn't move out of the way!

A sudden blure of pink, black, and gray appeared in front of him. A savage feminine scream split the air as chakra sizzled all around. Sakura struck the ground and split the earth. The snake, and a dozen more with it, fell in to the chasm that rent the ground.

"S-Sakura?"

She stood with her hands on her hips and tossed a smile back at Naruto. "Believe it!"

All he could do was grin a stupid, broken jawed, goofy grin. "So. . . so cool. . ."

She knelt next to him and popped a pill in to his mouth before he could pull away. "Swallow it!"

He obeyed and felt a rush of energy slam in to him. Stiffly he stood and stretched. "Wow." He twisted around an popped his back back in to place. "That's strong stuff!"

She nodded and stepped up to him, back to back. "Where is Sai?"

"One of his snakes took him. He's not doing well."

"I know."

"Do we have a plan?" He glanced back at her. She nodded.

"We fight our way out!" She then glanced at him. "Follow me!"

…...

Hanabi watched from the shadows of the Hyuga compound as her father entered and began to shout out orders. She was sitting in one of the large over stuffed earth chairs, her dress flowing down like spilt milk over the edge and flowing on to the floor. As her father started to gather the men she calmly awakened the Byakugan and watched from her perch.

She could see his chakra flaring and shifting strangely, like it had been tampered with, like it was shifted from it's normal paths. She frowned.

"The Hokage has given us the position of Village police." He was saying. Confidence was radiating from his stance. Pride from his face. Poison from his chakra. "Our fist priority is to organize and work with what little official forces already exist to ensure a smooth transition for our clan, and the senior officers. We do NOT want this new position to allow any unnecessary strife from any one other than the cirminals that dwell with in the city walls."

She shifted on her seat to get an even better look. He was almost vibrating. Excited, invigorated, toxic.

"Or second priority is to find my eldest daughter, Neji the son of my brother, and the teacher Might Guy, and arrest them!"

She settled back in her seat and let the Byakugan die down. Silently, as her father started giving finner detailed orders, she slid of the over stuffed chair and walked away through the cool dark halls. A think frown was placed on her lips as she walked.

This was all new, all strange, and all very _very_ exciting. She slid her fingernails over the smooth wood of the walls and entered the main compound meeting room. There a picture of her father and mother was hung above the long table. She stepped up to it and stood under the painting.

"Mother. You were right." She bowed a little. "Forgive me, for I must act on my own now." She stood back up straight. "But I will do so to bring honor to the family name."

…..

Ino could hardly see past the tears in her eyes. She hadn't wanted to cry in public like this, so she slipped in to the ally ways. Once there she knew she couldn't go home until she went back_ there_. Shizune had promised Choji would be OK, then left. Then her team mate had started to cough up blood.

And Akamaru was dead.

She felt her way along the walls and doors and stops until she was almost there. A noise from around the corner made her pause. Slowly, with a bit of fear, she peered around the corner. Kiba was sitting there, slumped, and staring at the stain on the ground where Akamaru had lost his life.

He was dry eyed, but numb looking.

"Kiba?"

He looked up slowly. "Ino."

She sniffled and wiped her eyes dry. "Aren't you going home?"

He shook his head 'no'. "Can't now."

She stepped around the corner and frowned. "Why not? Is it. . . I mean... it wasn't your fault. . . why. . .?"

He sighed. "Dogs are empaths." He said flatly. "If I show up feeling like this they'll either feel like this too or try to get rid of it." He rubbed his face and sighed roughly. "It's for the good of every one else."

She sniffled again and walked up to him. "So where are you staying then?"

He shrugged. "Don't know."

"Your sensei. . ."

"Is pregnant and doesn't need my presence. And the rest of my team is. . . else where." He waved his hand around the air sluggishly. "Just me now."

She hesitated for a moment, then lowered her hand to him. "Come stay at my house. Daddy won't mind. He'll understand."

He looked numbly at her hand. "You're father?" Then he looked up in to her eyes. A strange pain passed over his face. "Ino. . ."

"I won't let you sleep in an ally, especially not _THIS_ ally."

"Thanks but. . ."

"Let me at least wash your cloths and feed you." She inched her hand closer. "Please, Kiba."

He looked him self over and touched the dry blood covering his jacket. "Is your father home right now?" There was just a touch of tension in his voice.

"No." She shook her head. "He won't mind, Kiba, he really wont. He'll understand you are there for good reasons and not. . ." She glanced away. "You know not _me_."

His eyebrow flicked up for a moment. "Oh uh. . ." He sighed. "Look, Ino, I'm not really in the mood to be around people."

She sighed. "And I. . . I really don't want to be alone." She couldn't look at him any more. Ninjas weren't supposed to be weak, or cry. . . She felt the tears start to fall again.

Another rough sigh sounded up from her feet and in an instant Kiba was up and walking past her. She could almost feel the agitation radiating off of him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. . . Kiba please forget ai said any thing. . ." She looked up at him as he neared the corner.

"Well?" He asked, glancing back. "I'm not sure where you live, so you have to show me."

She blinked, momentarily surprised. "Oh."

"Ino."

"Coming." She hurried up to his side and fell in step with him. "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked flatly.

"For helping Choji."

They walked in silence for another moment before he stopped her. "I can't call you Ino."

She blinked. "Why?"

He sucked a breath in and shrugged one shoulder. "Your dad. . . he might get the wrong idea."

"He won't."

He bit his lower lip and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "He scares me. A lot."

"Why? He's really not like the rumors say he is. Believe me."

He started walking again, she followed him. "I do, but I have my reasons."

She frowned, trying to understand his reprehension, and failing. "Kiba. . ."

"Ak! No. No first names." He said holding up his hands, which were still in his pockets. "If I'm going to your house and undressing there can be no first names."

"I'm not calling you Inuzuka." She argued. "It's. . ."

"Awkward?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He sighed. "Well, think of some thing." He said, a little tersely.

"Sorry _sir_." She felt a twinge of regret asking him to come. She couldn't blame him for his foul mood, but his aversion to her father was strange. She wished he was there now, she always felt safe with her father, protected. She was sure once Kiba was with him he'd fee the same warmth and caring.

"Sir?" He asked, sounding just a touch disgusted. Once more he stopped her. "I'm the same rank as you are AND I just got my own dog killed. Don't . . . don't ever address me as _sir_."

"Then what?" She demanded. "If I can't call you Kiba, and I'm not going to address you by your last name like a common civilian, what am I supposed to call you?"

He tossed his pocket bound hands up again. "I don't know, just don't call me _that_."

She folded her arms. She was trying to be nice, trying not to cry, trying to help. She missed Shikamaru, he did what ever she told him to do. Every time. And Choji understood her. Kiba was just. . . to different. Still, in his eyes she could see insurmountable fathoms of pain and regret. She hugged her self, glanced down and kicked at the dirt. For her team he'd lost his best friend, and for that she could never thank him enough, but his distrust was unnerving. Her mind hardening against his rejection of his own name, and despite all that anguish, she spoke calmly and firmly. "You may not think you deserve to be of higher rank than me, _Sir_, but you do. You are willing to sleep in the street for the good of your clan. . ."

"Don't. . ."

"You willingly sacrificed your own dog. . ."

He pulled his hands from his pockets and stuffed the palms over his ears. "Don't. . . I'm not listing to this!"

She tugged his hands away. "So until you can think of some thing for me to call you I will address you as 'Sir'. Not sempai, not sensei, not. . . anything but sir. Is that clear?"

"Yes. . ." He struggled for a moment. . . "Ma'am?"

She shook her head. "No."

He rubbed his face and shook his head. "Then what am I supposed to call you?"

"I don't know." She said, miserably. She wanted Shikamaru to be there with her, he'd know what to say, how to answer all of the questions she wasn't able to. He was always so much smarter than she had ever been. It was strange but here, on her own, she found her self afraid to even try to think of the answer to this strange puzzle. "It was your idea, so think of something."

He shrugged. "If you get to call me sir. . ."

"Ma'am sounds like an old woman." She said, feeling her self becoming just a bit irritable. Even Choji, she mused sadly, would probably have an answer, even if it wasn't one that was completely serious.

"Do you have a hospital rank?" He asked slowly.

"Hospitals don't have ranks."

"No commanders or captains or lieutenants?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not really st up like that."

"But you do give people orders, like a captain, right?"

This time she shrugged just a little. "Some times. But that doesn't make sense."

"And Sir does?" He asked. He turned from her and started walking once more. "If you are calling me sir and making it an order, then I get to call you captain."

She stood for a moment, shaking her head. It was ridiculous. She could almost hear Shikamaru telling him his logic was flawed, or not based on fact. Choji would have laughed and teased her. The thought of his laughter made her knees feel loose and weak. If he died. . .

"Captain?" He asked in a slightly strained tone. It sounded strange and stupid, but his voice was full of concern never the less.

"Coming. Sir."

…...

Sai was only partly awake when he relised he was being carried behind fangs out of the fight. "Where am I?"

"Massster." The snake hissed. "Sssstay calm. I will keep you sssssafe!"

He tried to lift his head, but could not. He coughed, wet and ragged, and let him self hang. He could feel the life force draining out of his body. Taking a heavy breath he closed his eyes. His book was tucked in his shirt, though he vaguely remembered trying to give it to Naruto. With shaking fingers he pulled it out and opened his eyes again.

He flipped past the pages of his mother, past the pages of Naruto and Sauske, past the nine he had painted, to a blank page. Lifting his brush he brought it to the paper and made one shaking stroke. Then another. Slowly, painfully, he penned the one word he could think of. . .

'Team'

Shutting the book he slipped it back in to his shirt. As he closed his eyes he took a heavy breath and dropped his pen.

…...

Naruto struck out to the left, taking out one serpent, as Sakura slammed her fist in to the ground. It fragmented and sent huge rock spears sailing in to the snakes all around them. She raced ahead and he had to scramble to keep up with her.

"So where did you get the new cloths?" He asked as he kicked one fanged face away.

"Sai dumped me in the master control room." She said as she tore her way through one huge white body. "I found the computer, looked up the lay out of the base, Set the whole thing to self destruct. . ." She paused as she stomped the head of a hooded white snake to the ground. ". . . then grabbed what I could and came to find you."

"I hate the color." Naruto leaped and dogged a venomous strike.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Orochimaru didn't have any thing in day-glow orange." She sent him a sour look. "Really, you will tank me in the end."

He gave her his own sour look. "Haven't I been through enough pain in my life?"

"Well. . ." She grabbed his head and pulled it down as a snake snapped it's jaws at where he had been. "Maybe people wouldn't pick on you so much if you had better cloths."

He shook his head free of her hand and frowned. "Wait a minute."

She ducked under one looping body. "What?"

"Did you just say you set the base to self destruct?"

She flashed him a grin. "Sakura want BIG boom!"

He shook his head again, this time with a roll of his eyes. "You are so violent!" Grabing her shoulders he hoised him self up.

"HEY! GET OFF!"

He ignored her. "SAKES LOYAL TO SAI! THE BASE WILL NOW SELF DISTRUCT! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!" He leaped back down and received a smack to the head.

"Do NOT use me as a soap box!"

He flashed her a grin. "The snakes are clearing, aren't they?"

They both looked out over the serpent entwined earth as it cleared. White bodies flashed in the light and vanished one by one in clouds of dust and mist. Both loyal snakes, and the ones they were fighting, were leaving, saving them selves. After a moment only one large snake was left in view. In it's mouth a dark haired teen hung limp.

"SAI!" Naruto cried. He heard Sakura gasp as he started to run. Fear again hit him, but this time it was not from the Raccoon.

…...

Kiba let Ino strike out ahead of him as he walked. His mind was no longer even capable of thinking about Akamaru. Instead it was rolling towards the apprehension he felt towards running in to Ino's father. He didn't want to follow her. At all. Every thing about it was like asking for trouble.

He could almost still smell that man on brother's fur. It had been fresh too. Just before or right when Akamaru had died the blond mind reader's hands had been all over him. He ground his teeth and looked down at Ino.

She had looked so... lost... He knew how she felt. He wasn't following her for the laundry or the meal, and he wouldn't allow him self to even believe that for a moment. He was following because he too couldn't stand the thought of being alone. Ino hadn't hurt Akamaru, and he wouldn't reject her because of the sent of death and her father mingling. You had to look at every one as an individuate, after all. No vengeance, no hate. . . only action when needed.

Besides, he knew sitting there and giving up wouldn't have been what Akamaru would have wanted.

Still... he refused to allow him self to be close to the blond walking just in front of him. While he didn't believe in vengeance, he did know if the Yamnaka man had helped kill his dog then action would have to be taken. He didn't want to feel the guilt of taking Ino's father from he wouldn't call her name and hope for her to pitty him, or care about him.

But the ache wouldn't go away and selfishly, wantonly, he followed. Like a pup on a leash.

'Captain'. A word invented to keep them apart, to keep them from being entangled in sorrow together. A word to keep them what they were destined to be. Killers, without weakness, and with out regret to do what had to be done even if it hurt some ones feelings.

'Sir'. . . he hated it so much. . . a complement he didn't want, or need. Maybe that's why he let her insist she call him that. He'd use his distaste for it to remind him that no matter what justice for Akamaru would be served.

The moment they reached her home he could smell the man every where. His stomach churned and he had to grit his teeth and breath through them just to get past the reek at the threshold.

"I'll get you my dad's bathrobe so you can have something on while I wash your things." She said quietly.

He nodded mutely. He would have rather been burned alive than pull the soft cloth on, but he had no choice, he realised. He did as he was told. Told what to do by the 'captain'.

Once he had changed in to the pungent robe he found him self sitting on the dryer while he watched her sort his things and start greeting the stains in his jacket. She was crying softly.

He wanted to tare the cloth off his back and rip Inuichi's throat out. He wanted to pull his jacket back and hod Ino in his arms till the sadness was gone.

He swallowed both feelings and focused on the two new words. 'Captain'. 'Sir'. To separate so they could still function together.

Wearily, numbly, he slumped and closed his eyes. So very badly he wanted this day to be a bad dream. Yet he knew when he opened them he'd still be here with her and no dog in the house of a man he was starting to hate.

…...

The distance between Sakura and Naruto, and their limp team mate Sai, was closing rapidly when the ground started to shake violently once more. As it split before them Naruto grabbed Sakura and pulled her to a halt.

"No. . . I killed him. . ."

"Who?" Sakura asked, eyeing the hole with her own trepidation.

Before he could answer a huge blue purple head erupted trough the rock and dirt before soaring high in to the air. Madra flicked his tongue out at Naruto and hissed. The wound in it's throat was half healed. Naruto stepped back and glared.

"Madra."

"Jinchuriki." It glared. "If you move, I will strike. If you _do not_ move, I will strike."

Naruto glanced at Sakura who was standing up straighter. He could feel her energy building up just under the skin.

"Sakura?"

"You make that hole in it?" She asked, glancing at him.

He nodded. "More or less." Madara was opening his jaws wide, though the movements were jerky and stilted. "Doesn't look like it took, though."

"I know why." She started to roll up her new black sleeves. "You go from the inside, I'll hit it from out side. OK?"

He glanced at her and nodded with a small grin growing. "Lets do this!"

Sakura leaped and aimed for the wound it's self while Naruto shot for it's gaping throat. As soon as he disappeared with in Sakura slammed in to the purple mangled flesh. Chakra flared from both with in and with out. Sakura guided the energy along it's natural paths while Naruto fueled it with the excess energy left over from the Tailed Beasts' fight. White hot light flared along it's body and up and out through it's throat. It hissed in rage before it slit open the whole length of it's body. Then the entire creature exploded in to millions and millions of white hot sparks.

Naruto was tossed clear and landed in a heavy crouch next to the hole Madara had just made. Sakura landed next to him.

"He's dead." Naruto felt more than just a little relief in that statement.

"Sai." Sakura was already standing and making her way over to the fallen team member.

Naruto, breath coming in small tired huffs, looked over at Sai and frowned.

Before them the long white snake was laying Sai down gently. The teen was limp and lifeless. Sakura hurried to his side. Naruto stood and looked around for any more threats that might delay any medical aid. The sparks and some larger chunks of snake were still falling, but there didn't seem to be any other movement for miles. Weary of their surrounding he kept one eye out as he joined Sakura at Sai's side.

The white skinned teen was hardly breathing. Sakura was already working to pull the venom out.

"Will he be OK?"

She glanced up with a tight look on her face. "The venom has done a lot of damage. It's disrupted both his nervous system as well as injured his vascular system. If I can remove all of the venom still active in his body then I'll still have to heal him."

"And after that?" Naruto asked as he knelt down next to Sai.

"After that it will be up to him." She refocused on her task.

Naruto watched and felt another roll of fear go through him. Once more it was not from the Raccoon.

"Naruto."

"Yes?"

"Go change. Your about to loose what's left of that shirt."

Naruto glanced down and noticed, for the first time, that being swallowed whole, _twice_, did not do well for fine linen. He gave Sai one more fearful look before he stood and grabbed the bundle Sakura had dropped. It was quick work to separate the cloths she had brought for him from the slightly smaller ones she'd grabbed for Sai.

Casting the other teen one more look he felt the fear shift in to some thing darker. If Sai died then could he really say he'd saved a team mate? Naruto tore his eyes away. He fully noticed the large snake then for the first time. Large gashes in it's side bled freely.

"Hey, big guy." He reached up and stroked the broken scales next to one of the wounds. "Thank you."

The snake turned to him and flicked it's tongue out again. "Massster live?"

Naruto continued to stroke the smooth scales. "I hope so." Looking up he managed a very thin smile. "After Sakura gets Sai all patched up we'll work on you next, OK?"

"Me?" His head lifted a little. "Massster'sss minions heal me?"

Naruto jumped up to the top of the long round body and down to the other side. Here he started to peel off the tattered remains of the shirt. "We are not his_ minions_, we are his _team mates_. And yes, we will heal you. Or, Sakura will if she still has the energy." With the shirt off he examined his body. Long red streaks were flaring up from his stomach and he could feel unnatural lumps under the skin in his back. They were sore to the touch. He frowned. There was definitely an infection starting in at least eight places.

There was nothing he could do about it now, so he tugged on the black cat suit. As he fought his way in to it, and grumbled about how tight it felt, he spotted the scrap of cloth his clone had brought him. It was black and had a strip of orange on the edge.

The pitiful remains of his former attire.

He scooped the scrap up gingerly and cradled it like a dead pet. "Ooooh... My poor jacket." Lovingly he stroked it. Jiraya had given him the jacket when his old cloths had become useless while traing. "Oooh..." He sniffled and wiped his eyes. "No, no crying." He sniffled again. "It's just cloth." But after all of the stress and the pain and the fear and the rage and the adrenaline that was only now clearing from his body he felt the eminent reality of a physical and emotional crash coming.

Taking a deep, DEEP, breath he set the strip of cloth down and grabbed his pants. "You can cry about it when you get home and crawl in to bed." Bed. Never before had that word sounded so good. His own bed. And maybe thins time, knowing WHY he was having bad dreams, he could shut the voices up long enough to get a real night's sleep. "My own bed, and some sleep. . . I'm going to be OK. No need to cry yet. Wait till I get home. . . Where no one can see me."

"Isss masster'sss minion ssspeaking to him ssself." The snake asked.

"Not a minion, and yes." He tugged the pants on then the boots. Boots, not open toed shoes. THAT would have been handy ten minutes before as he had run through the snake battle. He sighed wearily, to tired to care for the lost advantage now that it didn't matter, and picked up the vest. It was amazingly heavy. He'd handled vests before many times, mostly while with Kakashi when ever they were washing their laundry wile out in the field, but this time it felt different. This time it felt like he was different for having it.

As he tugged it on he noticed just how much metal was really built in to the whole thing. It was like wearing armor. It was also pressing on all the little lumps on his back. But, he mused, it was better than the rags he'd just had on.

He looked him self over a little. It was utterly, completely, hopelessly, dull. All gray and black. Boring! Plain! No color what so ever!

He glanced down at the strip of cloth at his feet, the remains of his jacket, and scooped it back up. Again he wanted to thunk right down, right there, and ball his eyes out.

"Naruto!" Sakura called.

"What?" He snapped.

"Come here!"

He quickly tied the strip around his head like a forehead protector and leaped up and over the snake again while willing the tears to go waway. What he saw took his breath from him. Sai was sitting up, dazed, but very much alive.

"S-Sai?"

The dark haired teen looked up and offered a very weak smile. "Naruto. You look... different."

"Pants will do that." Sakura said with an appreciative nod. "You look good."

"I look boring." Naruto retorted, but he couldn't help but smile in spite of his outfit. He stepped up to Sai and knelt. "How do you feel?"

Sai coughed and took a slow breath. "Tired."

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, wanting the full verdict.

"He's still got a lot of internal bruising, and he'll probably be numb and off balance for a couple of days, but over all he should be right as rain in no time."

Naruto grinned at the news and wash of relief filled him. "Oh thank the Hokages!" He relaxed a little, then laughed lightly.

"What's so funny?" Sakura half demanded.

"I just.. I just can't believe it's OVER!'

She folded her arms and frowned. "It's not over. For one the energy boost we've gotten from the solder pills only has another five minutes left. What's more is this whole aria is about to be blown to smithereens in about three minutes. Even if we run as far and as fast as we can we'll never make it out on time."

The relief vanished and Naruto felt the raw tears threaten him again. "So. . . so what? That's IT?"

Sai frowned. "I can not carry us all away. If I could make another bird I can not carry my self and both of you."

"You don't have the energy to make a paper fly, let alone a bird." Sakura chided.

Naruto stood and ran a hand through his hair. "There has got to be a way!" He looked around and growled in utter frustration.

"I can help massster." The snake said as he swung his huge head close.

"How?" Naruto asked.

"Ssssecret tunnels. All clear now, other sssnakess gone." He flicked his tongue out. "I carry all massster away. Two minnionsss not have room for. One Minnion, maybe."

"Not minions." Naruto said flatly. "And I think that's a good idea. Can you take us to the bridge where the battle yesterday took place?"

"Yesss." The snake opened it's mouth. "Enter, massster."

"There is not enough room for all three of us." Sai said, sounding a touch worried.

"We'll follow you as far as we can." Sakura said.

"No." Naruto held up his hands. "Sakura, you go with Sai. I will follow."

"But. . ."

He smiled. "I have five minutes. . ."

"Four."

". . . so I should be able to get far enough away by then."

She frowned and folded her arms. "I'm not leaving you here!"

"Yes, you are." Naruto folded his own arms. For a moment they glared at each other.

"It is the most logical solution." Sai offered.

"Quiet!" Sakura snapped at him. "I don't trust you yet. The son of Ororchimaru. . . We don't even know what your true mission is or was. I'll bet it was some thing horrible like capturing Naruto or... killing Orochimaru or Sasuke or some thing like that!"

Sai frowned. "My original mission is void. I have no agenda hidden from you." He stood a little unsteadily. "I do not see why, if you do not trust me, you preformed your medical intervention on my behalf."

"Because I'm a medic and you needed medical attention, you pail faced . . ."

"Sakura." Naruto interrupted. "You did say you wanted a big boom, did you not?"

She scowled. "And we'll get one all right."

"Then please, get in the snake's mouth and GO. I'll be fine."

She stood as well, looking ready to argue further, but stumbled. Lifting one hand up she pressed the back of it to her head. ". . . Ooooh. . ." She started to sway. "Mis calculated my. . . dose. . ."

Sai grabbed her as she went limp. "She's fainted."

"Get her out of here!" Naruto turned to the snake, anxious. "OK, big guy, you get them as far away as fast as you can and when this is all over not only will we heal you we'll. . ."

The snake looked at him, waiting.

"We'll wash and wax every scale on your body."

"Massster'sss minionsss very kind!"

Sai scooped Sakura up in his arms and stepped up to the waiting snake. "Are you sure you will not reconsider, Naruto?"

"I'm sure and we are not minions." He forced an easy smile. "Have I ever let you down before?"

"Considering the short time in which I've known you. . ."

"Sai."

"Yes Naruto?"

"Go."

Sai Frowned a little. With a short nod he set Sakura in the snakes mouth. "Yes. . . Naruto."

"I'll be with you both at the bridge shortly. Good luck."

Sai climbed in next to Sakura and laid down. The snake closed it's mouth gently and started to slither off quickly. Naruto watched until it disappeared in to the underground tunnels.

He stood for a moment, alone, in the wreckage that had been Orochimaru's last stand. Turning about he took in the crushed trees, the rocks scraped clean of vegetation, the fisher in the earth where the base had already fallen in. . . Here, in this ruin, where he'd been reunited with Sasuke, where he'd been shown the Raccoon, where he'd killed the Serpent Sannin. . . Here where he'd gained a team mate and found his will to over come the erratic terror and rage he'd felt from with in. . . Here he'd lost what he had been. He'd died. Deep down he knew, with out a doubt, that the Naruto he had been was gone for ever.

He reached up and fingered the fabric remains of his former self. He felt so very, very tired. The seal with in was still in tatters and no matter how much his life had changed it did not make a difference next to the possibility that the Fox was only a few thin strands of Chakra away from reemerging in to the world.

If that happened this desolate, awful, scrape in the ground, would be a very small incident compared to the destruction wrought by the enraged Nine Tailed Beast back in the Village. He suppressed a shudder and turned away.

The only way to stop what was so ominously looming in the future, his future, was to reach Kakashi before that happened.

He gave the devastated landscape one more look. A part of him was glad it had happened. Sauske was free. But to think that he had been the one to kill the serpent Sannin. . .

He couldn't think about it now. Maybe latter, when he was home. When he was safe from this nightmare, but not now.

"Oi, Kakashi Sensei. . . I hope we can fix this."

…...

Ox was half asleep and half wide awake at the same time as minurtes dragged on in the hospital room. His senses were low, but not so low he'd miss the door or window being entered. The others were also in the half ready state. While the mission was high priority it's location made it low risk.

Jiraya had only ordered all four of them to guard because they had been right there, and the Sannin had been in a state of near panic and clear sock. Now that the Jinchuriki was dead the whole Village was in danger and the Toad Sage was covering all of his bases as fully as he could. Ox did not mind that he and his team were being placed on this more or less light mission. Rather he was glad they were to stay in the village and keep an eye on the situation. If a real attack were to happen he and his team would be well fed and rested for the fight.

As his mind drifted over the Village and it's many defenses he failed to notice the shift in Wolf's breathing. Nore did he catch the slight movement in the silver haired man's right hand.

There was a deceptively calm moment, where the sunlight was warm and lulling, and the whole room had a white and hazy dream like feel to it. Then, like the strike of lightning, Ox's throat was being crushed. He was for a moment to startled to move, but his team was instantly holding daggers and blades inches from the offending attacker, ready to kill if they were told to.

Staring from two differently colored eyes, hollow and cold, Kakashi glared at them all. Seeint they were at the ready and not actively going to strike, he turned a level gaze up and Ox and lessened his grip just a little to allow air flow.

"Am I a prisoner?" His voice was a half growl.

"No." Ox managed to wheeze. He was keeping his hands at ease. If he retaliated it might nullify his answer in the Wolf's mind and the less than battle ready man would surely try to escape.

"Then why?"

"A possible attempt on your life was committed this day." He wheezed in air. "Jiraya asked us to guard you as you slept."

The hand tightened again for a moment. "Who tried to kill me?"

"We were not told." Ox managed to speak with out choking, but just barely.

Wolf lowered his head just a little and growled. "The truth?"

"By my blood, I speak the truth." He lifted his hand and motioned for his team to back off. "Out side all three of you. A show of faith."

Cat pulled back and stuffed her blade in it's pouch. Sparrow and Toad lingered.

"Not right, it is not right." Sparrow pulled back and shook her head. Ox wasn't sure what she meant, but he could see in her body language a distrust of the situation.

Toad walked backwards out the door, keeping his blade out. "Come, little bird." He called.

She joined him and they left, but the door was not shut.

It was only once Ox was alone with Wold and the feeling of his team's chakras gone, could he feel the killing vibes radiating from the man at his throat. They were wild though, and weak, with no direction.

There was a long moment when neither moved. Ox waited for Wolf to let him go, to realise that this would be a very fast one sided fight, but like the teeth of a starving predator on pray, he would not let go. Instead he tightened his grip and shifted in to a crouch.

"Tell me, old man, again, who gave you the order?"

"The Toad Sage." This time it was hard to speak. He could feel blood throbbing in his jugular. "To protect you."

Finally, with a snort, Wolf let go and sank back. Animal. Killer. ANBU. It was all training and savagery. Ox Smiled a little under his mask.

Don't trust. Don't feel connected. Asses the situation before you let go. Ox and his team could have been any one, from any where. He approved of the hostility in the younger ninja.

Kakashi looked up, still ready to kill, do defend him self. With out a team, a unit to keep those finger fangs muzzled, he was a good weapon once more. His body though, that was a thin frail looking thing. It would take him weeks to build back his bulk, if he even could. He'd be good for one or two more fights, but that was it.

Every shred of gratitude and care he had for the protector he shoved back and locked it away again. There was no room for it now. "When you are allowed to leave this place you will rejoin the ANBU, yes?"

Wolf's head lifted and he once more leveled a gaze at Ox. "I'm leaving now."

"You do not have the bodily strength to. . ." Before he could finish the sentence he found him self being thrust to the ground, face first, with both arms twisted around back. While Wolf was shaking from the effort Ox found he could not repel the attack. He slammed in to the ground hard and the Wolf dug his fang like fingers in to the back of his neck. A thin strand of chakra fizzled through his spine and he realized what little Kakashi had to work with was being welded with near lethal results. A little more chakra and his spine would sizzle. Or, if Wolf wanted, he could snap the neck and save his energy.

He grunted, his mouth almost to numb to speak, and smiled again. The body was spent for the most part, but even a rusty blade could still cut a man deeply enough to make him bleed to death.

"I'm leaving now. I will rejoin ANBU today."

Ox forced his words to come slowly. "You want to have your mind cleaned of it's guilt. You want to be numb like me. You want what we have to offer. You grieve for those children you could not save."

Wolf's grip tightened and his body trembled. Ox's team was hovering just the other side of the thresh hold.

"Let me up. Get dressed. Fetch your mask. Meet me at the Dark Place."

Wolf's sharp fingers pulled away and Ox took a full breath of air. As Wolf stood, shaking just a little, Ox caught the dull dead look in his eyes. Wolf was a fractured personality, all ANBU had them, but it had always been nothing more than a mask, some thing the man Kakashi had slipped on. This looked deep, soul bound, real.

The protector, Hatake Kakashi, was no where to be seen, and only the animal remained. Ox approved and would not let him self feel sorrow for the loss. All ANBU eventually reached this point, it just took time. There would be no more mercy, no more frantic attempts to save people, just the killer.

"I will be at the Dark Place as quickly as I can."

Ox bowed a little. "Welcome back, Wolf." He vanished in a puff of mist and smoke.


	20. Never The Same

Hello all, I seem to be on a roll here as of late! As well as another chapter over the next few days I may be rewriting parts of the story to take out some plot holes, I've already started changes in chapter 13, but you won't see them yet for a little while. I want to make sure every thing is tight, because after this chapter. . . Well, stuff happens! But in THIS chapter... OTHER STUFF HAPPENS FIRST! YAYAYAYAYA

*Ahem*

I hope you can forgive me for taking a while to reply to all of the comments! I have been meaning to for days, but things in RL keep happening. How ever as I post this chapter I have 150 reviews, 100 Faves, and 126 alerts! I knew the story would be a fun read to at least ONE person (Me) but I had NO IDEA so many people would like it! As poorly written as it is! XD

I'm planing on doing another interview special and if you are interested in being a part of it by letting me as you questions and the like let me know! I'd love to have my fans involved in the next special!

Any way, I will not keep you waiting any longer. . . Enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 19: Never The Same**

…...

The sun was a hot, golden red, orb that hovered over the cliffs and the shattered remains of the wooden bridge. Naruto looked the land over with an anxious eye. In the grass was the bloody stain where Kabuto had killed him. He walked up to the spot and knelt next to a white chunk of bone. Picking it up with just the very tips of his fingers he curled his lip in disgust. It was a vertebrae from his own spine.

He stood again and stuffed the chunk of bone in his pocket. Even as it repulsed him it was a solid reminder that here his fate had been sealed to fight and kill Orochimaru. He clutched his fist around the bone and glared back over his shoulder. The base, the massive snake body, and all traces of his hollow victory were gone in the explosion from the self destruct Sakura had found and started. He'd been far enough from the blast to keep from harm, but close enough to feel the rush of heat. Even though Orochimaru was gone Naruto knew he could have never done what he had with out the power of the tailed beasts with in him.

That was the thought that troubled him the most.

"What am I?"

"Naruto."

He looked back over the bridge to where Sai was waving at him. Sakura was sleeping behind him, curled up against the huge white snake that had given it's allegiance to Sai.

His team.

In his rage he could have killed them, and would have, had not Sasuke stopped him. Even with the beasts in side of him he still didn't have the power to actually bring Sasuke back to the village.

His grip tightened to a painful level. After all of that, after all of the pain and the anguish, he had not been the one to facilitate any thing. The rage of the Fox alone had spurred him on in to fighting, else he would have gathered his team and escaped. In high contrast to that, however, the nearly crippling terror of the Raccoon had nearly gotten him killed. He understood now why Garra had never opened up to people but chose rather to just kill them. The fear of pain was clearly what had driven the Sand's Jinchuriki in his youth. Just as hate had driven his own battles.

. . .Rage and Terror. . .

He felt like he was becoming schizophrenic.

Weak, useless, and loosing his mind. He felt the burn of tears in the back of his throat.

"No. . . Don't cry until you get home." He grunted, stubbornly, then refocused on Sai. The youth was watching him. Even from across the divide in the land Naruto could see a trace of worry on his face. He plastered a smile on his own and started to make his way over the hastily patched bridge. "Sai! Are you all right?"

The dark haired youth gave one stout nod. He was the one to save Sausuke. Another regret Naruto had to swallow. Really, he never should have even gone on the mission. The weight of his own short comings was starting to crush him in to the wooden planks he was treading on. He foreced his mind to thingk of some thing else. . .

Where was Yamato? That wasn't a much more comforting thought. He realised the man could be, and was probably dead. His smile faded and he felt a cold chill race down his spine. If he was then it would be the first time some one actually ON his team had died. While he didn't know Yamato that well he felt grief swell.

Sai was speaking, answering his question. He focused on the other teen's words, desperately trying to pull him self out of his depressed state of mind.

". . . then passed out a second time."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Naruto flashed another smile.

"I was merely recounting that we appear to be well, Naruto." Sai replied. He did not smile, but he was no longer blank looking.

"Good." He looked Sai over carefully, checking the truth of that report. For the first time he noted that he was in the cloths Sakura had gathered, rather than his own outfit. "You changed."

"That is what I was recounting." He said with a slight tilt of the head. "Sakura awoke once we arrived here, demanded to know your location, berated me for following your order while you have no rank above me, ordered me to turn around contradicting her own argument as to rank and insubordination, then, when I refused on the grounds that we could not aid you, she struck me."

Naruto could almost hear her angry voice demanding Sai turn the snake around and go back. He found him self willing to smile for real at that image. "She's like that. But what does that have to do with your cloths?"

Sai's expression shifted to one of confusion. "Well, when we arrived here. . ." He folded his hands behind his back, further making him look perplexed and just a little small, "She told me my clothing was . . ."

"Was?"

He frowned just a little before straightening up. "I believe her exact word were 'Your outfit looks like you are a whore poorly disguised to hide in a gay bar on a D-Ranked mission for the insufferably frail minded'." He shifted again, looking just a touch insulted. "Naruto . . ."

Naruto fought a real, genuine, grin, trying not to further insult Sai with his new found amusement. As much as a relief as it was. "Yes?"

"My former outfit did not. . . make me look. . . _gay_, did it?"

"Not in the modern scene of the word, no." He managed with out laughing. Gently he reached up and set his hand on Sai's shoulder. "You'll have to forgive her, she's. . ." He struggled for a word that, in case she was awake and listing, would not offend yet still explain. "She's had a long couple of days. All of that tension has wound her up. She really is charming once you get to know her." He cast a quick glance towards her. She was still breathing in slow, measured, restful breaths. Still asleep. He let the Sai's shoulders go and folded his arms over his chest, satisfied he could speak freely, if not quietly.

Sai did not look any less confused. "Her actions seem to be consistent, but irrational."

"What do you mean?"

"Before we met Kabuto, when you were acting on your own human anger, you struck me, but did not give the blow enough power to harm me." He tilted his head a little and took in a slow breath, still trying to proses Sakura and her actions. "She on the other hand, despite taking an oath to do no harm as a person of medical standing, held no such reserves, and, I believe, struck to cause me injury. I can not wrap my mind around her."

Naruto found him self again trying to suppress a laugh. "Sai, take my advice on this issue. When it comes to women, you will _never_ understand them."

"One would think an ANBU member such as my self could decipher one woman's motives from past experiences."

"You would have more success trying to convince the sun to come up in the west rather than set there."

"Perhaps you are correct." He said finally, with just a hint of dejection. "Does this instability of thought processes not hinder missions?" His face suddenly held concern.

Naruto did chuckle at that. "Some times."

Sai shook his head and sighed, throughly confused. "Then she may very well endanger this team."

He tossed his arm around Sai's shoulders and chuckled again. "And yet we can't live with out her."

He gave a small nod of agreement as they started to walk back to the snake. "Apparently not."

…...

Kakashi made his way through the twisting bowls of the ANBU labyrinth, mindful that all eyes were on him. The halls were dark despite the light out side, with only bleary pin point lights shining down over dirty gray floors. His foot steps were hollow sounding as he walked. They were swallowed wholly with in the suffocating caverns. Whispers followed him, bodies shadowed him like ghosts.

Part of him felt like running, escaping, fleeing the darkness, but a savage need was crushing him from the inside out.

The wend of the hall gave way to an enormous chasm of steel and stone. Lined with rust and smelling strongly of rot and mildew. The whole room chocked in a languishing miasma of secrets and forbidding. Eyes lined the inky black darkness and chakra flowed like live ells up and down Wolf's body. Searching him, testing him. He stood, ignoring their excited inquiry, with a stony rigidity. Any waver was an invitation for attack. The ANBU tolerated no dissent, no sign of weakness.

It felt like it had felt every time he'd lost some one. Like guilt. Like grief. Like death.

He could feel their eyes on him, watching, like hungry animals. The forced calm they displayed on the streets, in the light, was unmasked here. Whispers and leers began to escalate. Some hissed, others clawed, nails raking just a centimeters from his boots. Shadows leaped like emancipated jackals.

He took a shaking breath as his mind numbed to the strange and inhuman sounds following him.

Insanity and sanity mixed like blood in water. You could see the source of the mental bleed clearly, a ribbon of red, but as it spread and thinned in to the clear dark void no one could tell where the blood trail would end. Or what predators it would attract.

Sharks to the quarry, the hungry looking for the weak. The sanguine jeers were intoxicating. Deadly. They sensed his trepidation. He wanted be like them, or devoured by them.

Any thing but feel this soul wrenching coldness.

"We missed you." A thin hiss sounded in his ear. He ignored it.

"Don't endanger them." Another voice growled, warning.

Imperfection was not tolerated. His mind would bend to be with theirs, or be rejected and ripped apart.

"Come on, show us. Show us you are ready to play with us." Whining just near his finger tips. Hot breath on his palm. "Show us."

It was no wonder they were all named for animals. He pulled a blade from his hip. His eyes darted from one hazy white mask in the black to another.

"Bring them." The whisper was soft, like snow, but still cold cold cold. Frozen. Black like the winter sky with beady starry eyes, glaring, demanding, searching. Soulless.

He brought the blade to his finger tip. The ultimate test. He had to convince them. Convince them or loose him self entirely to the void. As much as it hurt. . .

But what choice did he have?

"Murderer. Hunter. Eater." The jeers were nearing screams and howls.

He drew blood and paper; pulled out scroll and summon seal. The pepper unfurled like a ribbon, blood fluttered in the dark. They met and smoke erupted in to the clear space before his feet. Voices strangled to silence. Eyes watching, waiting. Demanding.

Hounds materialized from the mist, fangs bared, eyes cold and dark as flint.

Be still, be calm. The dogs could smell fear. He was shaking. But he was not afraid.

The smallest, dark muzzle and warm fawn coat, stepped forward as the air cleared. "Kak. . ." His voice halted. Soft eyes filled with canine conscious hardened. Pakun stepped back.

The silence was crushing. Slowly, under the steady gaze of the summon, the final test was conducted. Endless ages of mute darkness passed between master and mongrel. Then, a shift. Breath hitched in the beast's chest once before a single word was delivered, the verdict uttered. "Wolf."

The cavern was rocked with howls and shrieks. He was, once more, ANBU. Pakun whined and licked his teeth. The other dogs snarled, unnerved.

"Silence." He growled. They obeyed with out hesitation.

Imperfection was not tolerated. They would follow his commands, or be rejected and ripped apart.

…...

"This sun set is so AMAZING!" Guy clenched his fist in utter awe at the gold and red and azure bands soaring over the strong steady walls of the Village. Fervently he wished Lee could see the sight. How many such things could his young charge see in his life! How much could the boy take in the good of the world before the world it's self jaded him?

And Neji. He would live and that overwhelmed Guy for a moment. He didn't cry, the tears would obscure his view of the sky. Instead he took a shivery breath and let it out slowly. He would make sure to remember thing glorious moment and share it's impression on him with his children.

His dear, precious, living, children.

Even Hinata and Shino. He would never, NEVER, abandon them! Shino was creepy with the bugs and silence, and little Hinata. . . poor child. . .

He wanted to cry now for the thought of her awful, horrible, father. . . but he refrained him self once more. No, he would not cry, he would find a way to insure her freedom! He would brake her bonds from her family!

He struck a pose and bathed in the warmth of the sun's light. So vibrant were the colors! So strong were his convictions! So big was the task at hand!

He shook him self a bit. As strong as all of his convictions were he would not forget why he was here. He would find Kakashi and they would find out what had happened to Naruto. They would protect their children and they would rebuild the future!

And they would do it, even if they had to do it alone. They would crate the future for their children, a future filled with sunsets as glorious as this one, as bright as the morning's dawn. . . filled with freedom and love. They would do it, they would make love out of nothing!

This time he wept, but lightly. He wished Lee was there. The child could have learned so much from such a moment, but really, there was danger. And it would be dark soon. Who knew what danger lurked in the dark?

But by dawn. . . Naruto would be free from his trouble by dawn! And Guy swore to it!

…...

Kiba, despite the stench of the cloth he was covered in, hugged him self against the chill of the wash room. Ino was folding some of the already washed laundry. He watched her as she silently folded, hung, and tucked items of clothing from the basket before her.

He felt a little guilty for forcing a stupid title on her like he had. He was about to call out to her, softly, by her own name, because she had been so very kind to him, when he heard the front door of the house open. He snapped his jaws shut and felt his stomach churn.

"Ino?" Inoichi's voice called out, filled with concern and sorrow.

"Daddy!" She dropped the shirt she had been working with and nearly flew out the door. He peered out around the door jam. She was tossing her self in to his arms. He stroked her gently, soothingly. In broken, stuttering sobs, she recounted the events of the last twenty four hours. All the while Inoichi's face held a soft mix of empathy and hurt.

"I'm sorry Ino, I wish I could have been there to help." He held her close, softly. He loved her.

"And Kiba is here." She managed. "I brought him here to wash his things. He's in the wash room now. I gave him your bathrobe to borrow." She gulped in air, calming her self.

Gently guiding the walked up ti the door and Kiba sucked in a tight breath. He clawed the edge of the dryer he was sitting one and suppressed an angry hot growl. As soon as the tall blond man stepped in and they locked eyes Kiba shrank back.

Killer. It was all his mind could focus on.

Yet Inoichi was giving him that same strangely caring and hurt expression he'd given his own daughter.

"Kiba. . . Right?" He asked.

All Kiba could do was nod, tight lipped. If he opened his mouth he was afraid he'd bit the man standing there, giving him that look of genuine pity and sorrow.

"I'm sorry to hear about Akamaru." He said, and it sounded like he really meant it. It SMELLED like he really meant it, yet even now he could detect traces of his four legged brother's blood on the man's body. Nervously he swallowed.

"Do you know what happened to him?" He managed, and was given a confused look by Ino.

Inoichi shook his head no. "I just now heard about it. I was at work all day. I'm sorry. Had I know what was happening. . . I would have helped you."

Kiba tore his eyes away and bit down on his tongue. He'd be silent so long as Ino was there. She was looking up at her father with such need and sadness that he knew if he said any thing she'd never believe him, and he had no evidence any way. Tensely he sighed, feeling shaky next to the man who had put his hands all over Akamaru when he'd been killed.

"Right, well, you weren't, were you?" He asked bitterly, swallowing his anger.

"No, I'm so sorry." And then he reached out and Kiba felt his hand on his back. "You are welcome here for as long as you want. I know you can't return home until your emotional state has balanced it's self out."

Kiba kept his face stonny as he felt that hand's warmth sink in through the cloth. "Thank you." He managed. "But I can't stay here with you and. . ." He glanced down. "The _captain_."

"Captain?" Inoichi looked down at Ino, confused.

She shook her head and tugged him out of the room. Kiba let out a sigh of relief when the hand was pulled from his back. He could hear them, not far away.

"He's insisted we don't call each other by or names and I don't know why!" She sounded so very hurt that it made him wince. He was rejecting her, because of her father, and she had no idea why.

"Honey, he's had a very bad trauma, and he feels as though he's got no control left In his life right now." It sickened Kiba to know that statement was not only true, but that Inoichi had read him so very well. "The only way he can keep him self from feeling completely helpless is to maintain strict codes of interpersonal conduct to keep him self from doing any thing that will only hurt him further."

True. Kiba closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall. He had to get out of there.

"So. . . what do I do then?"

"Even if you are not a captain, you should let him call you that. I know it's strange, but one day you will BE a captain of your own squad, maybe. He just needs time. OK?"

He couldn't hear a reply, so he supposed she nodded. It was a heavy, heavy truth, and it settled on him like the lid of a coffin. The door of a tomb.

He couldn't escape them, so what was the point of leaving? What was the point of staying? Other than, obviously, getting his cloths? He could sleep in the streets. He had before, not because of greif, like this, but because some times ha and Akamaru would sneak out and. . .

His mind stopped working at the point. Any further thought of him would only hurt. With the death of his dog he too was, in a very cruel way, dead too. His identity was gone.

The blond man entered again, looking at him with those soft, kind blue eyes. "Have you eaten today?"

"No." He shook his head.

"I know you are not hungry, but I want you to have some rice and water, if you think you can stomach it. OK?"

Kiba rolled his head against the wall and looked at him. "Yeah, sure, rice. 'K."

Inoichi offered him a very small smile. "OK." He held out his hand and Kiba, still smelling the blood of his brother there, took it. He felt like he'd been the one to land the last blow. Hammer the nail in Akamaru's coffin. Trusting his killer.

But he had no evidence other than what he alone had smelled, and that would be gone by morning.

Belatedly, very belatedly, he realised Inoichi had even been mentioned even once, and the man obviously had no idea of his own apparent involvement. He let him self be helped off the dryer and looked up in to the blue eyes.

"Will she be OK?"

Inoichi Smiled a little. "She going to be fine in a while." He let go of Kiba's hand and placed it on his back. "Captain. . . you know the way she orders her team around, even Asuma, it kind of fits her."

Kiba managed a very small smile of his own, in spite of. . . every thing. . . "She is a little bossy, Sir."

"So what is she calling you?"

"Sir."

"I'm just curious." Inoichi said, his soft frown returning.

"No, I mean that's what she insisting on calling me. It's 'Sir'. I don't deserve it, though."

Inoichi looked down with such pity that it hurt Kiba to see it. He did not want to feel kindness from the killer of his brother. "Listen to me, what happened today was not your fault. Knowing how every thing turned out now, do you think you would have done any thing different?"

Kiba shook his head 'no' slowly. "I was afraid for Kakashi sensei." He admited, finding it imposible not to open up to the man before him. "And Iruka. . . Some thing is not right with him. I'm. . ." he swallowed, afraid of how easily he was sharing the information. "He's not a cold blooded killer. Some thing is wrong with him." He grit his teeth at that, wondering if he meant it for both Iruka, and Inochi. His stomach knotted as he let the last sentence echo in his mind.

Inoichi nodded gravely, apparently oblivious to the bubble of confusion that was swelling with in Kiba. "He'll be well cared for now. Akamaru's sacrifice may have saved Iruka's life, as well as others, you know. And for a dog, who's life revolves around serving others. . ."

"He would have done the same thing too, even knowing the outcome." He said slowly, nodding in numb agreement. It was comfort from the man caught red handed, and he didn't know if he hated that, or wanted to embrace it. It was true, after all. Akamaru would have done every thing all over again, in a hear beat, if it meant saving just one human being. Kiba looked up at Inochi again, forcefully swallowing his disdain. "So. . . now . . . what?"

"Now you grieve." He said gravely. "And then do the best you can to make sure the people he thought of as his family, his pack, are safe, and given every opportunity to be healthy and happy."

Slowly Kiba nodded again. "Yes sir." There really was nothing more he could do. Nothing.

…...

Asuma rubbed his face and tried to hide the tears in his eyes. The orderly stood patently nearby, silently waiting for him to regain his composure. To his left were Choji's parents, holding each other, weeping out loud.

"You are sure?" He managed.

She nodded with a bright smile. "He'll be OK."

Choji's folks were nearly dancing, though it was hard for them to move, embraced like that, in the small room. They were almost shouting now for joy. Ninjas, trained in the art of death, not supposed to show emotions, were jumping and yelping like over excited puppies.

He continued to try to hide his relief, but found he simply could not. The tears wouldn't go away. A strong hand landed on his shoulder and he looked up a bit startled.

"Come with us to see him!" Choza smiled brightly.

He looked up, the room blurred by his tears, and gaped at the inventation. "But you are his parents. You should go first."

Choza shook his head. "But you are his teacher. You protect my son. Are you not then a brother of mine? And therefor, my family?"

Asuma could not find a reply. Choa took this as an agreement, grinned, and pulled him to his feet. "My son would want to see you any way. You don't know Asuma, but one day maybe you will, how children's wishes become your wishes. I can't disappoint him right now, even if he asked me for the moon on a plate."

"Covered in sauce of course." Miu exclaimed. "And I'd make him gallons of his favorites sauces, If the doctors would let me give it to him!" She clapped Asuma solidly on the back and he tried not to fall from the force. "You don't know how glad we are, because you have no children. But I know you have the love of a teacher! I was a teacher once. . . but it's not like being a parent! Oh no! Not at ALL!"

For just a moment his mind left the present and slipped back to another time, not so long ago, but still seemed like ages from when he was now.

_"Are you. . . Are we. . ."_

_"Yes?" She half laughed. "Spit it out."_

_"Are we going to be parents?"_

_She glanced down at the flowers in her hands with a blush. "Asuma. . ."_

_He pushed off the wall and stepped up to her. Softly he slid his hands around her waist. "Are we?"_

_Still looking down at her gift she nodded slowly._

His heart threatened to stall in his chest. The word 'Family' hadn't meant a lot since his father had died, and it hadn't meant a whole lot for a long time when he was younger. But now, as his mind continued to linger on the possibility of his own child, the word was all consuming.

"I might know." He half mumbled. Nether of Choji's parents heard him.

_"You talked to my boys?" Kurenai asked._

_"He did." Kiba confirmed with a small nod of the head. "We know that the union of you two could mean one of you will have to put aside your Shinobi duties and that may be. . ." He faltered, trying to think of the right word._

_"It could mean trouble." Choji finished. "You know, if the Hokage thinks she needs all of the ninja battle ready or some thing."_

_"Exactly." Shino said._

_"But what I don't get is what keeping it a secret will do if she's already pregnant." Kiba added. "I mean it's not like you can undo it."_

_Asuma frowned. "Well. . ." He let his hands slip down to her stomach instinctively, protectively. "Now may not be a good time for. . . It wouldn't be fare to. . . If there's danger to the village I mean. . ."_

_Kurenai lowered her head and sighed. "Every shinobi may be needed to defend Konoha. After what has happened between the Akastuki and the Sand is is very apparent that the Akastuki are actively hunting the tailed beasts. Naruto is once more here in the village, so they may attack us next. Brining a child in to a world that may be destroyed is not right."_

No. . . he'd take the Hokage on her self before he let any thing happen to his. . . Son? Daughter? It didn't matter. It was his and he'd fight tooth and nail to save it. Her. Him. He _DID_ know how Choji's parents felt now, but he didn't DARE say any thing about it right now because he was already crying. If he spoke of it he would probably fall apart all together and that simply would not do.

He needed to smoke, he decided, because every nerve in his body felt like it had ants crawling all over it. He forced him self to ignore the urge, just for a little longer, any way.

They were entering the dimly lit room where Choji was half awake in moments, and Asuma had to take a breath before he could even look at the teen laying on the bed. When he did look he saw Choji was frail looking and pale. Dispite the obvious discomfort his student looked back at him with glassy half lidded eyes and gave a very small smile.

"Ma? Pop?" He blinked, slowly, and smiled even brighter. "Asuma Sensei?"

Asuma felt him self being pushed forward towards the bed. He took Choji's hand hesitantly and gave it a squeeze. "Hey."

Choji gave them a thin grin. "Did I over eat again?"

"You don't remember?"

"No. Should I?"

Asuma shook his head, hurt that his student's ignorance would have to be broken and he would have to be told that another human being had done this to him. That Iruka the soft spoken, kind hearted man, had nearly killed him.

He frowned. "Asuma? What happened?" There was fear growing in his eyes. "What about Ino? And Shikamaru?" A little panic started to swell.

"They are OK." Asuam said, soothing like he'd never done before. "They weren't hurt."

"But. . ." Choji started.

"Not right now, son." Miu gently nudged Asuma out of the way and bent over Choji to kiss him over and over on the swirl of his cheeks. "You just rest my baby boy!" More kisses. The panic started to fade from his eyes, but the unhappy frown remained.

"Mama? Did. . . I get in to a fight? What happened to me?"

Choza stepped up then and Asuma gave him room. "Son. . . we will inform you when you have rested. In the morning maybe. For now, your mother and I will be here."

"Asuma Sensei too?" He asked, glancing over nervously.

"Actually, Choji, I need to check up on Kurenai." He smiled as best as he could, but the fear creeping in to the back of his mind for the fate of the child he didn't even know, was strangling out all other thoughts. "But if you need me I'll come back in a blink." He added when Choji's face fell.

"You will, promise?"

"I will." Asuma said with a nod.

He continued to frown for a moment before nodding and sighing. "I get it, Sensei. Tell her 'hi' for me?"

Asuma smiled, toughed by Choji's kindness towards Kurenai. "I will. I definitely will."

…...

Hazy shades of grey swelled up and down. The walls of the room sighed in and out like finely hung linens. Voices floated, scarcely connected to the bodies that hovered intangibly close. Broken vocal vibrations disconnected from reality swam over and through the air, like fish, like dolphins... and his head hurt, but felt hollow and numb at the same time.

"Tell me again, every thing, as best as you can." A familiar voice said in a low, gruff, demand.

Iruka stifled a moan. His stomach was twisting in to very painful knots. He focus on the voices to keep his mind off of the hurt.

"He's had headaches on and off for days which I treated him for once, but seems to have been a long term problem." He knew the voice was Shizune's. He sounded crisp, professional, and tense.

"Why do you say that?" The other voice asked. It was male, and so very familiar, but his mind wouldn't put a face to the voice, or bring up a name. He felt drugged, and remembered the poison.

"Well, I'm mostly going on his record for medical attention. In the past he's not come for treatment until the third or fourth day for any ailment."

There was a grunt of agreement. "True. Continue."

"Well, he's also developed a Phobia of his own reflection." She reported. Still sounding sharp and crisp. "He also seems to have been having mood swings and at least one, as of yet unconfirmed, reported case of an anxiety attack."

"Explain." The male said.

"I had my assistant search his apartment for any more evidence of suicide attempts. They found non, but discovered that he'd left his shower running. The pattern was consistent of an escape, from what they could not tell. There was no trace of any one else in the room. Also I discovered him, before he left the village on his own and reportedly killed the Akatsuki men, in the record room with dried shampoo in his hair."

"So you think he ran from the shower?"

"That's what the evidence suggests." She sighed. "And when I found him he was definitely not him self. He had this far away look in his eyes. He looked dangerous."

"What else?" The man pressed."

Iruka swallowed another moan. Hearing the events of the last few days, and remembering why they had happened, was as close to reliving them as he could get.

Shizune continued. "Before that, when I treated him for his head ache, he eluded to me that when he looked in the mirror he did not recognize it was him."

"So he was disassociating before the shower incident?"

"Yes." She said in a tone that sent chills though Iruka. There was no kind pity, only the soulless facts of a scientist. "He's also shown other symptoms as well."

Symptoms? Iruka took note of that. Did they know what was wrong with him?

"Go on then."

"Well, As I told you, he's hearing and seeing a personality he's named Fuka."

There was a rough, unhappy, sigh from the man. "This Fuka. . . tell me about him."

Iruka seems to be blaming this imaginary personality for all of the negitve things he's done in the last couple of days."

Imaginary! Iruka tried to sit up, but his body would have none of it. The moment he moved the stomach pain roared in to an all consuming fire. They didn't believe him! They thought he was crazy! He moaned out loud and sank back, hopeless. The moment he stilled the pain vanished.

"Iruka?" Shizune asked.

Every thing was so numb.

"Iruka?" Her voice was flowing over him like cold clear water. He turned towards her and looked up in to her eyes. Dark eyes set deep in pale skin, lined with a halo of black hair. She was frowning, eyes glittering with tears. The scientist was not soulless. But she didn't believe him.

She was crying.

For who? Had some one died? A cold echo of pain replayed in his mind, but he didn't want to remember.

He didn't want to remember the happy face and the sun kissed blond hair. He didn't want to hear the easy laugh or see those bright blue eyes.

They didn't believe him. Fuka was not imaginary. Naruto was gone. Fuka couldn't hurt him.

It didn't matter any way. There was nothing Iruka could do. As long as he was here, being watched, then they were safe from him.

"Just. . . let me. . . sleep." He closed his eyes.

…...

Naruto sat down next to Sakura and brushed the hair from her face. Dark bags were under her eyes. Even asleep she looked exhausted and spent. But while she was sleeping she looked so innocent. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the slumbering serpent. She was safe, and for the moment he didn't care how or why.

Sai sat down next to him, while giving Sakura a careful glance, before he to settled in. "Naruto?"

"Hmmm?"

"I am. . . Sorry."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked in to the dark eyes. "For what?"

"For provoking you."

"Forget about it, Sai. It's not the worst I have been through, believe me."

he nodded stoutly. "Very well then." He drew his knees up and hugged them. A small sleepy snake poked it's head out from under his vest coaler. It flicked it's tongue out.

"Oh hey, you still have him too?" Naruto asked.

Sai nodded and stroked the small head. "Sakura also healed him too before she passed out again."

"That's good." Naruto settled back. He felt his body starting to relax. Knowing why he'd been having nightmares put him more at ease than he had been for days. If he started to have them now maybe he could tell the beasts to be quiet for one night. He could feel him self going limp. "Wake me up in a couple of hours OK?" He yawned. "We need to hurry back to the village."

"I will."

The last thing he was aware of was Sai scooting just a little closer to him and draping an emergency blanket over him. Then he fell asleep.

…...

Wolf stood on the wall as the moon took to the sky. Ox was next to him watching him.

"I don't need you to come with me." He growled.

"And yet I come any way. Until I am released from my mission I am to watch over you."

Wolf grunted. Orders were orders. He had to follow them. Ox had to follow them.

"Very well then." He jumped and found that he had just enough chakra to navigate the building's roof tops. Ox Followed him easily.

"The Hokage may not be pleased to see you back in action."

"I do not care what pleases her." He replied flatly. "I only care for the missions she will give me."

Ox nodded once. "Very well then."

They continued under the slowly rising moon. Wolf was not yet strong, but he was recovering. And he would never look back. Never regret. Never protect again.

Never loose any one again.

Never hurt again.

…...

Guy stood, astonished, at the poster with his picture on it. Writren neatly in text the poster declared he was a wanted man, with a price tag on his head. What was worse was that the order had been given by the new chief of police, Hiashi Hyuga. He'd expected they would be considered missing nin, but he had not expected this. With that man leading all of Konoha there surely could be no hope for neji or Hinnata.

The horror! The Inhumanity! How? How could this have happened! Tears sprung to his eyes, but he was far to shocked to cry now. All he could do was gape dumbly at his own grinning printed image.

Guy trembled at the sight of the poster for a moment, to agast to even have any feelings, youthful or not, before he heard voices. A touch of true fear raced through him. Not for him self, but for the kids. If he were to be delayed before he could return to Kakashi then his self appointed mission may well be lost!

As the people came closer he ran and ducked in to a seedy looking bar, not caring if they were Hyuga, police, or even just two people for a walk. He could NOT take the chance!

The Bar was filled with the wreak of smoke, the smell of cheep booze and even cheaper perfume. He suppressed a cough and was about to back out from this miasma of death and youthlesness when he saw a face he more or less recognized.

He wasn't sure of the name at the moment, but he knew the man to have worked with Kakashi in the past. He'd been a good, honest, reputable sort who, Guy decided, was not one to supposedly ever enter such a trashy place like this. At least, not that he would haver have guessed.

Still avoiding the poster and the people who may or may not be looking for him, he stepped up to the sullen looking man. Trying not to tremble, though it was hard after the shock he'd received from the discovery, he addressed the man. "T – Tenzo?" Guy asked experimentally, hoping his voice was not filled with all of the turmoil he now felt.

The younger man looked up with red blurry eyes. "Kakashi's friend. . . Might . . . Um. . ."

"Guy." Guy finished. He took a seat and sat down next to him. "You look like you have had a mission go south on you. None of your youthful energy seems left with in you, friend."

Tenzo looked down to his glass. "Did. Haven't you heard?"

"I have been. . ." He chose his words carefully incase others were listning. "I have been away for a number of days to train my fabulous team."

"Oh." He rubbed his face and sighed. "Yeah, I lost my team."

Guy leaned on his elbows and toyed with an empty glass. Clearly the younger man had been here for many, many hours. "I'm sorry to hear that." He said sincerely. Lives had been lost, the noble people of the Village had been slain. It hurt to hear.

"Not yet you aren't." Tenzo hissed bitterly. He glared down in to his drink. "I haven't told you who was on my team."

Guy was afraid to ask, but because he'd brought it up it was his obligation to not only hear about who died, but now he was stuck listening to most of the mission. Classified or no when men sat drinking in bars rank and classification slipped in to a runny mess of misery and self pity. That was where Kakashi's younger friend was now, drowning in that sea of sorrow and strife. Guy hoped that by listening he could help the man grieve, maybe cry, and then resolve to be better tomorrow.

Guy almost sighed, knowing that the last part may well have been impossible by tomorrow, but he forced him self to be patient. He wasn't sure it was safe to leave yet any way. "So who was on your team?"

Tenzo stirred his drink with a stick of wood that was growing right out from the end of his finger. "Kakashi's kids."

Guy sat still as a wash of cold flooded him. "What?"

"Yep." Tenzo was going on. "Was going to find this. . . spy. . . but it turned out to be Kabuta or Kubito. . . or what ever his name was. Then Orochimaru shows up and. . ." He shook his head.

Guy swallowed roughly and glanced over at the inebriated man. "You mean Naruto Uzumaki? The Jinchuriki?"

"That's the one." He stopped swirling the drink and shook his head. "I didn't even manage to recover his body. . . or Sakura's."

Guy stared numbly out over the other people in the hazy smoke filled room. He just. . . he just couldn't proses the information. His mind locked on to Kakashi and his broken body, declaring to protect Naruto. He felt a little ill then, and felt the need to find his friend double.

"Tenzo."

The man looked up. "Huh?"

"Does my Eternal Rival, Kakashi, know about this?"

He looked away and actually _shuddered_. It was all the answer Guy needed. He stood to go, but then saw a couple of Hyuga seated not far from him. Quickly he sat back down.

Taking another breath he rubbed his temples as he tried to think of a way out. Tenzo continued to speak, oblivious to Guy's movements.

"You should have seen the _look_ he gave me." He gripped his glass tight. "I think this time. . ." He shook his head. "This time he's not going to come back from it."

Guy felt tears burn again, but he pressed them down. Now was not the time. He was trapped, and could not make a fuss here. "Hand me one of the bottles." He finally said sullenly. Once more he felt age creep in where youth had once been.

Tenzo shoved a half empty one over. "I think I killed them all off, the whole of team seven. Kakashi just doesn't know he's dead yet."

Guy took a drink. That was entirely possible.

…...

Shikamaru stepped in to the messy file room and started to gather papers. To long he had been lazy. To long he had been unmotivated. Now Choji was hurt, again, and Akamaru was dead.

He started to read the papers over. He would find the truth, even if he had to look under every rock and crevice to find it.

From behind him a shadow fell over him and mingled with his own. It felt odd and strangely energized. "Shikamaru."

He turned and stared at the man who's body was wrapped perpetually in bandages. "Danzo." He greeted with out honorifics or respect. He was to angry to play word games with the old man at the moment. Oddly enough this seemed to please the man. He smiled cooly.

"I have heard what has happened to your team mate." Light flooded in all around him from behind, but his face was in full shadow. "What are you doing here?"

Shikamaru stood fully and held up a hand full of the scattered papers. "Looking for the truth!"

Danzo leaned a little on his cane. "You won't find it here. Come."

Shikamaru glanced at the papers all over, and then dropped the ones in his hands. His mind was fuzzy all of a sudden. Yet clear. "Yes sir." He followed, his shadow was writhing behind him like enraged black fire.

…...

Kurenai wasn't at her place and her neighbours had no idea where she could have gone. Fear gripped Asuma as he thought about the need for ninja now. Suppose she had. . . He chased the thoughts away from his mind. She would have told him first if she had decided to . . .

He found him self wandering the dark streets until he found him self in front of a bar he hadn't been in for years. To his surprise he saw Might Guy toying with a drink. Asuma wasn't sure who was sitting next to him, but he did know it wasn't one of the students.

Maybe Guy, having been with Kurenai's kids for a while, knew where she went. He entered the bar and made his way up to the table.

"Guy?"

Konoha's green beast startled and dropped his glass. He looked up like a panicked animal for a second before visibly wilting.

"Asuma." He kicked out a chair from the table. "Sit." It was a rough, darkly uttered order that was not to be ignored.

Asuma took the chair and frowned at how old Guy looked. He'd aged years, possibly decades, in days. But as bad as Guy looked the younger man next to him looked worse. "You OK? Is he OK?"

Guy shook his head. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"This is Tenzo, he was in charge of Naruto's last mission."

Asuma winced. "Oh, I heard about that."

The younger man looked up. "I think every one has. This bar is the only place where some one hasn't yelled at me or thanked me."

"Th-thanked you?" Guy stammered.

"Naruto is – or was – very hated in this village to this day." Tenzo tossed back another shot. "They are happy he's dead." He lowered his head. "This village is full of vipers. The next generation hasn't got a chance of happiness."

Guy looked near tears. "I know. Neji was mind raped by his uncle and that bastard Inoichi. Hinata may be come a slave to her own sister."

Asuma grabbed the bottle from Guy. "I can't find my pregnant girlfriend and I'm afraid she's decided to have an abortion with out telling me. Choji was nearly killed too." He blinked. "Wait, Inoichi?" Looking up he frowned. "You sure?"

"I was there and I saw what he did." Guy looked over at Asuma sadly. "I don't think Ino is involved."

Asuma took a drink and shook his head. "She would have said some thing to me for sure. She tells me every thing."

"I'm sorry." Guy sighed.

"It's not your fault."

For several moments there was nothing but sullen silence as the three men stared blankly, unseeing. Then Tenzo shook him self a little. "I kissed Kakashi once." He took a slow sip. "On the lips."

Guy glanced up. "What?"

Asuma scowled. "Why?

Tenzo leaned back. "We were on a mission to Mist to find out if there was a weapon that could kill a jinchuriki was true. Utakata, the lord of the land of Mist, supposedly has this... girl... who has the power to kill him in one blow." He looked up. "We were sent there with a woman called Swift. She was a real piece of work. Any way we infiltrated while the Lord was supposed to be out on a tour of the land."

Guy nodded slowly. "I remember Kakashi told me that was where he was going just before he took on students. He seemed. . . worried."

"We could have been killed." Tenzou said with a sigh. "Any way this girl, Hotaru, is the one who is supposed to know about the weapon. Now Utakata and Hotaru are _supposed_ to be gone, but we alter documents and make it look like they had to come back." He took another drink.

Asuma shifted in his seat. "Did they come back?"

Tenzo looked up blearily.

"Let him tell the story." Guy said miserably.

"So, any way." Tenzo went on. "I disguised my self as Utakata. But then so does Kakashi. And we both think the other is the real guy. Swift, that idiot, knows who is who and keeps her mouth shut."

Asuma tilted his head. "Was she some sort of double agent?"

"Let him tell the story." Guy said again, irritably.

"Later on Kakashi and I find out that this girl, Hotaru, won't use the weapon on the jinchuriki because she loves him."

Guy looked up, frowning. "Did you find out what that weapon was?"

"Let him tell the story." Asuma grunted.

Guy snorted, but fell silent.

"I change in to him, Utakata. And start going thorough his stuff. I tell swift first. You know, because I'm not sure where Kakashi went. And then who shows up in Utakata's room but that cute little Hotaru."

"I do not like where this is going." Asuma rubbed his face then refocused on Tenzo.

"I figure, hey, this girl thinks I'm the real deal, right? And they are supposed to be lover or what have you. And she's so cute. . ."

Guy shook his head. "It wasn't. . . I mean, you'd _know_. . ."

"Swift knew." Tenzo growled. "It was Kakashi, and he DID think I was the real thing." He growled again, like a wet cat. "And he worked me good. Had me convinced!" He gripped the glass a little tighter. "But you know, it's not like he was like. . . all over me. I had to get him. . . I mean _her_. . . to talk." He sighed. "So we, you know, talked."

Asuma slumped forward. "What did you talk about?"

"Lies. But you know to make a good lie you have to make it mostly true."

Asuma glanced at Guy, who was looking mournfully back at him. "What do you mean?"

Tenzo leaned back in his chair. "I mean he. . . he was so convincing, because he was honest. He was scared, and it looked right. This sweet innocent little girl, all alone with the jinchiriki. . . he made it believable because he was just plane _terrified_." He downed another gulp. "We talked, for like, three hours. He was trying to get information out of me, and I was trying to get information out of him. And he just, even with out being for real honest, opened right up and was you know, _real_, with me. And it worked. He couldn't have pulled it off with out going deep with him self, you know?"

"He was searching underneath the underneath to get the stories right. Right?" Guy asked.

Tenzo nodded. "Yeah, I mean, he tells me about every thing, his team mate sacrificing him self, his dad. . . _every thing_. . . but he just changes the names and places." He glared down at his drink. "He was just so freaking lost looking then. Like he was afraid of him self, but in all those soft curves. . . He had me. And it was all lies, but it _wasn't_." He spat the last word bitterly. "Under that stupid mask he's. . . hurt. I think he's always been hurt. He's just. . . he's not. . . he's not a killer, not deep down."

Guy hung his head. "No, he's not. He's one of the most kind, gentile, people I know." He rubbed his face, possibly clearing his eyes of moisture, before adding. "He hides from his pain."

"And then. . . what?" Asuma asked, wanting to get on with it. "Did you two. . ."

"Let him tell the story." Guy grumbled, obviously not liking where the story was going.

"So he thinks the only way he can get the truth from me, which I don't have, obviously, is to loosen me up... and I was _all_ _for_ that loosening up." He scowled in to his drink. "I mean, cute girl, Bed room. . . I'm thinking I can convince her to leave with me if we. . ."

"Please don't say it." Guy half growled, half whined. "Don't tell me you slept with him." He looked nearly as green as his spandex tights.

Tenzo glared at him for a moment. "Let me tell the story."

"Sorry."

"Any way just before any thing happens, _almost_ any thing, Swift comes barging in and she gives us this _look. _ Like, because you know, she KNOWS it's us. And thinks WE know. . . but we _don't_. . . And she thinks that we wanted to do this. . . and before I can say anything she tells us the real _couple_ is coming and that we had better move our asses." He toyed with the rim of his glass while looking angry and ill. "Barged in just as we kissed. Most horribly awkward moment of my whole life."

Guy shivered. "To think if she hadn't come then. . ."

"Wouldn't have mattered. We did have to move, _fast_! The real jinchuriki was almost in the room, even as we scrambled out of bed. We took a secret tunnel and left. Never did find out if the weapon was real or not." He sighed. "Doesn't matter now, I know what kills a Jinchuriki. AND I know that will kill Kakashi."

Guy nodded. Asuma hung his head.

"I swore on the life of my mother that if he told anyone I'd _kill_ him. Well, I did kill him, sort of, and now I'm telling you guys." He rubbed his eyes. "jinchuriki are nothing but problems!"

Asuma looked back up. "The jinchuriki are not our problem, and neither, for the moment, are the ones hunting them."

"The Akatsuki?" Guy asked.

"Nope. Umino Iruka killed them. I can't prove that fully, but he also nearly killed Choji, and that I can prove."

"What?" Guy nearly yelped. He covered his mouth and looked all about before settling back down.

"Iruka snapped. Started when the other Jinchuriki, Garra, was killed, then he just lost it when he found out Naruto was dead."

"I'm sorry." Tenzo said sullenly. "I'm so sorry!"

Guy set his hand on the younger man's back. "It's not your fault."

"It is!"

"It's NOT." Guy sat up straight and pulled Tenzo a little closer. "Listen to me. It's Orochimaru's fault, not yours."

Tenzo let his head hang for a moment then he looked up. "I'm going to kill him!"

"You will need help with that." Asuma said with a determined nod. "I'll help."

Guy sighed and rubbed Tenzo's back. "I will too, but... you need to sleep off all of this. . ." He waved his hand around the table littered with glasses and empty bottles, ". . .before you go head hunting that snake."

"Good idea." Tenzo said as he looked at the glasses that had accumulated.

"Where do you live?" Guy asked. "I will see you home."

Tenzo shook his head. "I'll walk. . ."

"You'll pass out half out the door." Asuma stood.

Tenzo sighed once more. "I live with my mother."

Again Asuma shared a glance with Guy. Guy shrugged and hauled Tenzo up with little effort. "Then to your mother's house we go."

…...

Two minds hung in the darkness. Iruka stared at the personality staring back at him. A mirror with a twisted reflection.

"I will not let you destroy every thing that Naruto cared about."

"Naruto." Fuka frowned that flat, dry frown of his. "You don't understand, I. . ." Before the sentence could be finished light priced the dark and Iruka gasped in pain as he was dragged from unconsciousness by a sudden rush of adrenalin. Looming over him was the scared face of Konoha's T&I specialist.

"Ibiki." He tried to back away, but was tied down to the bed by soft cloth straps.

"I'm not here to hurt you." He said in a not quite gentle, but not threating tone.

"He's here to help, Iruka." Shizune said from his side. His head snapped over to look up at her. She was holding a needle in her hand. His heart was racing. She had woken him up with the shot.

"But. . ." He looked back up at the man looming over him. He licked his lips nervously. "But. . ."

"Iruka, Shizune has given me a run down of your symptoms. I have some questions I'd like to ask you."

He nodded, trying not to look as frightened as he did.

"She said you have another personality in your head. Would you care to tell me about him?"

Iruka nodded again and found that he was shaking. The dose of adrenalin in his system was overpowering all else. He could not calm down. His heart was knocking in to his ribs painfully. "His n-n-n-name is F-F-Fuka." He managed past chattering teeth. "He's a _killer_."

"You have been trained to kill, Iruka." Ibiki sat down on the end of his bed, calm, unemotional. "You are a weapon of Konoha and have your self killed."

"In self defense only!" He half cried. "Not..." He tugged at his hand to run it through his hair, but it was still bound. "Not like he did. He killed those Akatsuki m-m-m-men!" At that he shuddered at the carnage he'd seen. "It was horrible. They were going to kill me and I just. . . blak-k-ked out."

Ibiki nodded slowly. "And that's when you first had this Fuka personality emerge?"

"Yes." Iruka sat up on his elbows as best as he could. "I'm not crazy! He's real! You have to believe me!"

"This was before you knew about Naruto's death?" The T&I expert asked, flatly.

Iruka winced back as if struck. "Y-y-y-es." He shook his head slowly. His hair was loose of it's band and falling all over. "I wanted to warn him. They killed Gaara. . . They could have killed him."

"Hm." Ibiki grunted.

"What?" Iruka asked, afraid of the answer.

"I strongly suspect that, due to the stress you have allowed your self to accumulate, your mind was unable to cope with every thing." Ibiki stood and walked over to a counter. "I know you, Iruka. You work to numb the thoughts of your kisds out there, throwing them selves at the enimy. You train them to kill so they won't be killed, but every time one of them does die it sends you in to one of these spirals. Only thing time. . ."

"This time it was Naruto." Shizune said quietly.

"Exactly." Ibiki returned with a bottle of pills in his hand. "Only thins time your mind when confronted with an enemy that you held directly responsible for Naruto's danger you acted subconsciously. . ."

"No." Iruka shook his head. "No that's not it."

"And your mind, unable to cope with what you could do to another human being when angry enough, disassociated your actions with _you_." He sat down again at the end of the bed. Casual, unthreateningly, practiced ease. "It created a second personality."

"No!" Iruka tugged at his restraints. "That's not. . . It can't be, he's not a PART of me!"

"Why not?" Ibiki asked calmly. "Tell me why you would reject some thing you have done to protect one of your children?"

Iruka shivered. "The way he killed them. . . it was just so. . . horrible." He tugged at his binds again, to cover his face, to cover the shame and the guilt he felt. "And I couldn't save him any way." He was crying, but he couldn't hide it. Not that any thing would hide feelings from Ibiki any way.

"Iruka." Shizune said mournfully.

"He's a cold blooded killer, and he's. . . I don't know. . . he wants some thing but I don't know what it is! He has all of this drive, but I just can't see what it is he wants!"

Ibiki nodded slowly. "What do you want, Iruka?"

"I want Naruto back." He managed not to sob, but he fell back and let the grief ash over him any way.

"He's not coming back." Ibiki said, calm, no emotion.

"I'll kill that bastard." He almost growled. It hurt to hear the savagery in his own voice. It sickened him to hear how much it made him sound like Fuka. "I'll kill the bastard who killed Naruto!"

"That _is_ the goal, Iruka, you just don't want to be violent, do you?" Ibiki had an almost gentle tone in his voice. Like velvet over steel blades.

"I just want the blood shed to stop." It came out as a nearly squeaking whine. Pathetic. Fuka was right about him, he was so spineless. Helpless.

"Iruka." Ibiki's voice shifted to a gentle command.

He looked up through the haze of tears. "What?"

"From the evidence I have gathered I am afraid I must diagnose you with 'Dissociative Identity Disorder'."

Iruka swallowed the lump in his throat. "What is that?"

"It's a fancy name for having Split Personalities." Shizune offered.

"I happens more than you'd think." Ibiki sighed, a real emotion showing through. "Most of the ANBU are of two minds, it's the only way they can cope with some of the missions they are sent on. Very few have manage to keep a solid mind the whole time they have been in service. Mostly the ones that have was because they were either killed before they can be in the service long enough to develop one, or are incapacitated permanently thus preventing them from taking more missions."

Iruka for a moment could only see Kakashi laying there, half dead, and wondered if his mind had ever split. "How awful. How? How can the Hokage, any Hokage, allow thins to happen?"

"They are encouraged to create these false identities and embrace them to enable them to be the weapons they need to be." Ibiki answered with a small shrug. "In your case, however, you have come by this split naturally."

"No." Iruka nearly moaned. "That's not, it can't be. . ."

Ibiki pressed the bottle of pills in to one of his bound hands. "These will help with the stress. I know you need to work, so pick one job or the other for the next month or so, but not both jobs."

"I can't let him near my kids!" Iruka spat bitterly.

"Then the office it is." He stood. "Take a pill every time you feel like you need to relax. You are also not allowed to be alone for the next forty-eight hours."

"Why?" He asked, miserably. They weren't taking this seriously enough. Fuka would be back. Iruka could feel him waiting in the back of his mind.

"Because you tried to kill your self." Ibiki said with a rough sigh. "Though I know you, and I know you wont do it again. Will you?" It was a challenge and a threat. Ibiki could have Iruka confined and on 24/7 watch, tied to a bed in the bowls of the T&I chambers for observation, for weeks on end, if he so wanted. Iruka looked down at the pills. Maybe being trapped under observation would be the best thing. Then they would see. . .

"Lock me up." He said, staring at the bottle.

"No." Was the course, hard, reply. "As much as it pains me to say this I must. Your position as the Paper Work Ninja is irreplaceable And now that the village is under two threats you must be accessible at all times."

"You _have_ to lock me up." Iruka glanced up at the scarred face. Ibiki frowned deeply.

"You have been deemed no danger to others, Iruka."

"But I killed Choji. And I tried to kill Kaksashi. . ." He looked up in fear. "I'll be executed for. . ."

"You injected poison in to your self, Iruka. Not him. And Choji is recovering from his surgery. You are OK." Shizune offered him a kind smile. "You are not in trouble."

"No. . . No he. . . I. . . It was meant for him! He made that Poisson. . . for Kakashi!" Iruka sat up again as best he could. "You have to lock me up! I'm clearly dangerous!"

"Do you think Naruto would be pleased with you if you gave up?" Shizune asked.

Again Iruka winced. The very thought of that blond grinning up at him, declaring his future title as Hokage, burned in his heart. Naruto would have been devastated to know what Iruka was asking for.

"Will the pills suppress Fuka?" He asked slowly, hoping. _Pleading_. Knowing that as bad as it looked now, he refused to let Naruto down. He couldn't just give up.

"Your mind needs to heal. Try to come to terms with the fact that it was your hands that killed those two men." Ibiki answered evasively.

Iruka winced. How could hands that led children, rip other humans to shreds? He forced his mind down another path, rather than the one that would open up the gory memories. "So am I stuck here for the next two days?" He asked, giving his binds one last look and tug, before looking up.

"No." Ibiki offered a very small smile. "I'm letting you go to stay in Shizune's care."

Iruka glanced up and felt red flood his cheeks. A baby sitter for the Village's most trusted baby sitter. "Oh, uh. . ." I ruka knew Fuka had been around her a number of times and had no intention of harming her that he could detect.

"I think, I should stay here. It's safer."

Ibiki and Shizune exchanged sad glances. Slowly she reached out and unbound his hands. "You are free, Iruka, and you are safe with me. I won't let Fuka hurt any one."

"In two hours, once that shot of adrenaline wears off, take a pill. Then you can go with her to her house." Ibiki added. He walked to the door and paused before opening it. "Iruka." He glanced back.

Iruka could not meet his gaze. They had no idea what Fuka could do. He looked at the pills. He could take the whole bottle. But not while Shizune was watching. He'd have to wait. It was only two days. . . But he was a ninja, he could sneak out. He'd take them all. He'd make sure to do it where no one could find him.

"I'm sorry." Ibiki said with just a touch of real sorrow in his voice. "I will check up on you tomorrow."

Iruka said nothing. They wouldn't listen to him any way.

…...

"Snake faced _creep_. Get your cold hands off of my body before I remove them from yours!"

Naruto covered his ears and sighed. He was not rested enough for this.

"I was merely checking to see if you were cold, Sakura-_Chan_." Sai replied in a more than dry tone. "I can see that while you are warm to the touch you are perplexedly cold never the less."

"What the hell does that mean?" She growled, still not rested enough to be civil. Naruto wondered if maybe she was also starting to PMS, but it was just to hard to tell with her most of the time.

"A simple statement of fact." He said, this time there was just a hint of self satisfaction in his words. He'd given her just enough to answer her, but not give her any thing at all in the way of a real answer at the same time.

Naruto had to suppress a laugh when all she could do was sputter angrily at his reply. Finally, in a tone that was filled with all the waring signs of true violence, she said, "If you so much as look at me while I am sleeping again I will smash your head in to the nearest rock I can find. Then I'd be medically obligated to fix it and I might just find my hand slip and cut that throat of yours clean open."

Naruto hoped Sai knew to let it go at that. Sakura was not one to give such elaborate warnings, but maybe, just maybe, she was still riding on the wave of gratitude that came from Sai having saved Sasuke. The wave was washing up on shore for her though, and, mostly because Sai didn't know her all that well, Naruto decided, he continued.

"I would think that, even with your supposed intelligence, you could understand that would be clear malpractice and result in the termination of your duties of a medical ninja."

Naruto rolled a little to gage the level of danger Sai was in. He caught a glimpse of the thinly masked rage in Sakura's eyes and winced. Sai would not readily survive the blow he'd receive now if she didn't temper her self. He doubted she had the will to keep from snapping his neck though. He knew had to do some thing.

"Knock it _off_, you two!" The words were not cleaver or threating, but it was just enough to divert Sakura's attention from Sai to him self.

"Naruto!" She snapped. But then she smiled in a lightning fast change from rage to joy. "You made it back!"

"You failed to notice his presence?" Sai asked flatly. But he tilted his head back in a most cocky manner.

She shot him the death glare. "You. . ."

"Sakura." Naruto sat up and winced as pain shot through his body. The infection was bad now and he could tell he was getting a feaver. "Gah!"

Instantly Sakura was at his side, tugging his vest off, and trying to look in to the back of his cat suit. "You let me look at you."

"No, I'll be fine." He tried to push her away, but she was stronger than he'd anticipated. Once more she was doing that build-up-of-chakra thing, and then using it to power sudden strong movements.

"Sai, give me a hand." She said, letting all of the tension from the previous argument go. Sai was instantly at Naruto's other side.

"What do you need me to do?"

"He's going to be stubborn about this and we need to lance the wounds on his back." She tugged at the vest again. "You'll have to help me 'convince' him to hold still."

Naruto was about to argue. They needed to get home. He'd be fine until they got there, but Sai was suddenly almost nose to nose with him. "We both know that I am fully capable of restraining you with my ink ropes. You are in no condition to resist them. Further more at your rate of regeneration, once the wounds are lanced and properly drained, you should recover in a matter of minutes. There for you can comply willingly, or you can be held down."

Naruto frowned. Sai was right. Once more he was not going to get away from some of Sakura's special brand of medical treatment. "Fine."

"Now listen Naruto. . ." Sakura began, thinking she still had to argue her point, but then stopped. "Wait, what did you say?"

"I said 'fine'." He pulled his vest off and peeled down the stretchy top of the cat suit, exposing his back, and rolling his eyes. He actually liked it better when they were fighting. That way they would leave him alone. "Just be fast, OK?" He turned his back to her. "We need to get home."

"R-right." He heard her start to pull stuff from her vest. "This will hurt." There was a fair amount of apology in her voice this time.

"Do you not have any pain killers?" Sai asked.

"Nothing that will hep with this." She admitted.

Naruto harrumphed. "Just get it over with, OK?" He looked back at her. "I had my guts in side out, how bad can this be?"

She gave him a look he didn't want to understand, but was all to afraid he did. It was the look she gave him when ever she was sorry she'd hit him hard enough to brake a bone.

"Really, Sakura, I've been dead, twice. Nothing can be that bad, right?"

Five minutes latter, in a hazy sea of agony and nausea, he regretted his agreeing to do this. Every cut was a river of fire. Every time she pulled a rock from his back, or some other chunk of something, it was like he was being split in too. He refused to scream. If he did it might startle her and she might just slip for real and cut some thing he didn't want cut.

He did whimper though as he dug his finger nails in to his knees. He wanted to throw up, but he swallowed, hard, and took a ragged breath. Another whimper escaped his lips as she cut open one more infected aria. That's when a cool hand traced his cheek gigngerly. Sai was there, holding his head gently.

"It will be over soon, this is the last one." His voice was still mostly void of feeling, but there was an underlying softness that soothed.

Naruto clung to him, for the second time, and whimpered again.

"There, all done." Sakura said with a little shaky sigh. "And you are right, Sai, the first one is completely healed up. They are all healing extremely fast."

The pain was fading, but Naruto refused to let go of his team mate just yet. Slowly he looked up,

his mouth hanging open stupidly from pain and nausea as his stomach still churned. Sai was looking down at him with a mostly blank expression, but then he smiled a warm, reassuring, smile. Naruto managed to smile back.

"Thank you."

Sakura's voice floated over his shoulder. "You are welcome."

Sai's smile shifted a little and a new twinkle of amusement shown in his eyes. But he held silent, obviously not wishing to start a fight with Naruto literally between them. Naruto struggled to sit up. The last of the wounds were closing and his stomach was settling once more.

"This is amazing." Sakura said, a touch of awe in her voice. "If only we could bottle your ability to heal we could save thousands of lives."

Naruto began to pull the cat suit's top back up stiffly. Sai offered a silent hand of help as Naruto looked over his shoulder at the pink haired medic and said, "I don't think the cure is as good from my point of perspective, as it is yours."

She nodded, agreeing. "Still, if there was only some way. . ." He winced as he realised she was looking at him like a new lab rat, rather than a teammate, and a roll of inhuman fear flowed through him. He ducked in to his inner world for just a moment to reassure the Raccoon he was OK, and that the wounds were part of a healing processes, and that no one was attacking them. The fear died down almost instantly. Returning to the present he found Sakura looking at him squarely.

"What is it?"

"I was just wondering how you felt."

"My stomach sill hurts. But OK other wise."

"When was the last time you went?" She asked.

He glanced at Sai before looking back at her. "Went where?"

"To the bathroom." She said slowly, looking just a little peevish.

"I peed just before I came here." He said, backing away from her a little.

She sighed and folded her arms irritably. "That's not what I mean. I want to know if your intestines are twisted. If they are twisted like I suspect they may be and they die or rupture there is no way I can simply lance that kind of infection. You clearly need more medical attention, but I can't do any thing else for you in this wilderness."

Naruto stood painfully. He rubbed his stomach, noting that it did feel quite a bit worse than it had during the battle. "Well, then, if you two are all rested, we should move out."

Sai stood and handed Naruto his vest. "I am ready."

"Me too." Sakura said as she gathered the unspent supplies.

Naruto glanced up at the half asleep snake next to them. It's wounds were still bleeding sluggishly. "Can you help him?" He asked.

Sakura looked up and nodded. "Sure, I can play veterinarian for a minute. But then we move out."

"That was the plan, yes." Naruto mumbled. He tugged his vest on. "I just hope Captain Yamato is OK."

"He had an altercation with Orochimaru, but I do not think he was killed." Sai reported.

"You don't think he went back to the village with out us, do you?" Sakura asked as she tended to the largest wound.

"I hope not, if he did then he would have told every one I'm dead. I really,_ RELLY_, hope that's not the case." Naruto winced as he zipped up. The thought of Jiraya hearing the news was painful to think about. The thought of Kakashi hearing it was even more troubling. "Kakashi won't be recovered all the way yet, and if he is told I'm dead while still unwell. . ." It was actually a rather frighting thought.

"Oh, non-sense." Sakura said as she move on to another wound. "Kakashi Sensei is WAY to cool to think we are dead!" She glanced over her shoulder. "Or that you are dead, any way."

"But he was dead." Sai said. "Twice."

"No thanks to you." Sakura grumbled. "I still don't know what your mission really was." She added wearily.

"Does it matter?" Naruto asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "Not at the moment." Silence followed for a minute or two as Sakura finished her task. In the moments of quiet Naruto glanced over at the stoically silent teen next to him. All traces of that softness he'd shown minutes ago was gone. A cold professional mask of indifference was in it's place. Even with out an animal mask Sai was an ANBU agent. Yet here was proof that even the ANBU were not all inhuman killers. Naruto smiled just a little and returned his attention to Sakura, trusting Sai would be a good addition to team seven once he learned that here there was no need for that mask. Most of her anger was gone as well, but he knew at a moments notice any little provocation would send her back in to a screaming punching fit.

An odd trait for a medical care taker indeed, Naruto noted. Sai was right.

Once she was done healing the snake she stepped up to the snake's head and offered it a smile. "All right, you are all patched up." She looked so kind, but he knew those soft hands were just as skilled at breaking bone as mending it.

Sluggishly the sbnake lifted his head and flicked his tongue out over her cheek. "Th'nk 'u." He drawled.

"You sure he's OK?" Naruto asked.

"He's just cold. Once the sun warms him up in the morning he'll be perfectly fine." She patted his smooth shiny white muzzle.

"I really want to be in the village by morning." Naruto worried his lower lip.

"Are you all right to be left here alone?" Sai asked his new found familiar.

"Massster go. I will be fine. When Massster want me, just summon me." The snake replied.

"I will, thank you." Sai bowed a little. Sakura and Naruto offered a bow as well.

The snake closed his eyes. "Any thing for massster and his minionsss."

"Not minions." Naruto grunted. "Well, lets go then. Do we have every thing we need?"

"All packed and ready to go!" Sakura flashed a big smile.

"I am ready as well." Sai said.

"Good!" Naruto turned and pointed towards the village. "Then off we go!" He strode forward and heard Sakura and Sai fall in line behind him. A moment passed in companionable silence before he heard Sakura snort.

"What are you looking at?"

Sai's dry voice answered. "I was just noticing how the vest you have on adds considerable weight to your already bulky frame, Sakura-_Chan_."

"My bulky. . .?" She stammered.

Naruto ducked as Sai went sailing over his head. Sakura was after the dark haired teen moments latter, screaming and brandishing her fist. "Ignore him, Sakura, he's just bating you! He just hasn't figured you out yet!"

She lifted a fist to punch Sai, who was curled at her feet with his hands up defensively, and snarled back. "Then I'll _teach_ him who I am!"

Naruto kept walking while shaking his head. "This is going to make for one hell of a report to write up." He passed them as Sakura struck Sai over and over with considerably less force than she was capable of wielding. At least, Naruto mused, she wasn't trying to maim him.

Sai ducked and rolled trying to avoid her fists. "You are a medical. . . professional! You . . . have an OATH to . . . up hold. . . to do no. . . HARM!"

"I'm not going to _harm_ you Sai." She growled. "Just apply a _healthy dose_ of sense to that thick skull of yours!"

Naruto kept walking and sighed. "I'm leaving! The ship is setting sail! The train is headed for the next station! The party is OVER! Lets_ GOOoooOOOooo_!"

Sakura continued to vent her pent up anger on Sai, who refused to fight back, until she was satisfied with her efforts, and ran to catch up with Naruto. Sai, rubbing a number of places where she had hit him hard, strode up next to her in silent defiance.

They walked on, under the soft moon light, in a frosty sort of silence behind Naruto. He glanced back only once to see if they were both OK, and, satisfied, allowed him self to think of home.

They were finally leaving his nightmare, and he would finally be back with Kakashi. That was enough to put a very small smile back on his face.

The bickering that started up behind him minutes latter wiped it off again. Between the Fox and the Raccoon, and the two team mates arguing just behind him, He knew his sanity would be strained as they traveled. He may yet just kill one of his human companions, if only for the silence it would offer.

No, he shook his head lightly, he didn't even want to joke inside his own head about killing some one. He needed them both now, if they were friends with each other or not that was there problem, not his.

The mission may have been over, but as the bickering turned in to a heated argument, he relised it was going to be a LONG walk home.

…...

Wolf entered the tower and glared down the red head secretary who was behind the desk. She glared right back at him and he had to squash the urge to kill her. She was not his target.

Ox nodded to her and asked if the Hokage was in, and that the visit was ANBU based. The red head told them Tsunade was in, but only suicidal people would want to see her now. Her brazenly flipent attitude grated on Wolf's nerves.

"If you want your head on a platter, than go for it." She yawned and looked down at the pages of a civilian catalog. "But don't say I didn't warn you guys."

"It is understandable her mood would be fowl, for the day has been a strain on many." Ox said with a slow, quiet, respect.

The red head looked up. "Well, just remember, you are better off waiting till morning."

"I will see her now." Wolf just managed not to growl.

"Then you had better tell your loved ones good by, mister." The secretary said with a small yawn.

Wolf marched forward, scowling through the eyes of the white porclen that seperated him from the rest of the world. "I already have."

The walk through the familiar halls at this dark hour, in the past, would have made him uneasy. A middle of the night visit only ever meant trouble. But now he felt only the need to get his next assignment. Move on. Forget. Drown him self in the blood of others.

Ox shadowed him, close, but not in his personal space. "You know, you could just wait till morning. You have only gotten out of the hospital, and not with out medical consent. As much as you must be feeling the pain of loss killing your self with work won't make things any more bearable. "

Wolf suppressed a growl. "I have no intention of prolonging my leave of duty."

"Very well then."

The rest of the walk was silent. Ox stayed close, but kept his distance just enough not to loom. Wolf wanted to turn and throw him in to the wall. He wanted to tell him not to be so close. Not to be so. . .

. . .Protective.

Protecting people wasn't worth it. Not any more.

When he reached the door and lifted his hand to knock a small sliver of an emotion washed through him. The last time he'd gone through the door he had been with his team. His former team.

"Having trouble?" Ox asked in a nearly soft, concerned, tone. "It is no shame to rest when you need it."

"No." Wolf knocked. "I am ready to take up a mission." For a moment there was no movement or sound from with in the room, then the door opened, revealing Jiraya.

The toad sage's face went from morosely inquisitive to shock. "Kakashi!"

"No." He replied coldly. "I am Wolf."

…...

Getting Tenzo home proved to be easy. Two feet out the door he promptly passed out and Guy lifted him up and carried him. He was, he noted, more heavy than Kakashi had been, and that was a little startling.

"How much do you weigh, Asuma?" He asked.

"Why?"

"Because Tenzo is more heavy than Kakashi."

Asuma glanced over at him. "Do you want me to carry him?"

Guy shook his head. "He is not to heavy for me. I'm only asking because I think Kakashi is smaller than you."

"He is." Asuma said with a nod. "Taller, by a bit, but I'm more heavily built."

Guy wanted to say more, but Asuma spotted one of the wanted posters and stopped to read it. After a moment he sighed and said. "This Village is going to hell in a hand basket, isn't it?"

Guy could only nod. They started walking again quietly. Guys mind traveled back to his silver haired rival and he felt sorrow upon sorrow flood him. Tears were freely falling now, and he had no mind to stop them. All he could see was kakashi sitting on that bed, asking him to help protect his precious children. He'd failed.

"Guy." Asuma's voice sliced in to his thoughts and he looked up.

"Yes?"

"What will you do? Will you turn your self in?"

"Never." He shook his head. "I'll never give in to Hiashi. No matter how hard he looks for me I'll never give up Neji or Hinata to him!"

"But you'll be hunted down." Asuma argued practically. "And that would not be good for your students, or Kurenai's. If Neji is still recovering the strain will only slow that process down."

"You are right. I hadn't thought about that." Guy sank a little.

There was more silence for a block or two befpre Guy felt Asuma's hand on his shoulder.

"Guy?"

"Yes?"

"What do you make of all this?"

Guy glanced around, looking for any who may be listing. "I have much to say, but not here. Some where safe."

"After we take him home you can come to my house."

Guy shook his head. "I have GOT to find Kakashi first." His lower lip trembled. "He has got to be heart broken. You don't know him like I do, Asuma, you don't know what this will do to him." He sniffled. "I need to be there, to remind him he's not alone. I hate to boast, but when the fourth died I was the only one who was there for him. I had to be. No one else could see past that mask."

"You are a good friend, Might Guy." Asuma patted him on the shoulder. "When you have spoken to him, then we must talk."

Guy nodded. "Agreed."

…...

Neji awoke and felt a slim hand clutching his. Looking down he spotted Hinata asleep with her head resting against his hip. There was worry clearly written on her fine features, even asleep as she was. Looking about he spotted Shino, who was standing at the window, watching them both.

"Neji." He called softly, noddind.

"How long has she been there?"

Shino looked down at the Hyuga princess. "For a long time. I tried to get her to move, but she would not. She feels great guilt for what she has done. For days it has been eating away at her." While over all flat in tone there was a grave worry underlaying all of the words. "She has become more and more distraught, so much so that for a short time she would not eat, or sleep."

Neji looked down and stroked her cheek with his free hand. "I forgive her. It was her passion for Naruto that made her act. If she would only tap in to that and use it, then she could be the leader of our clan. Instead she hides from her own feelings."

"You sound like Guy Sensei." Shino said, sounding just a touch amused.

"When he is right why argue or deny it? It is true that in order to fight effectively one must be passonate about it. If you are not then what will motivate you to overcome the chalenges you are faced with?"

"Fitting words from the student of the Green Beast." Shino said with a nod. "Will you continue to forbid her from seeing Naruto?"

Neji frowned and laid his head back down. "No. I do believe her guilt can be over come by that passion. I've never seen a woman so enraged." He sighed. "I would like to live a long life, and surpass even my own youth."

Shino laughed quietly. "How do you feel?"

"Tired. But I feel better." He wrinkled his nose. "Are those_ things _still in side of me?"

"No, I removed them about an hour ago. Your infection is gone. With a couple more days of rest you will be fine."

Neji smiled. "Thank you."

"No, thank you." Shino stepped away from the window and moved closer. "Kiba and I have worried that Hinata would never acknowledge her power or passion. Now, with your forgiveness, she may yet come out of her shell and face the world head on."

Neji rubbed his stomach. "Any thing to help."

Hinata lifted her head and bilked. "Neji?"

He smiled. "Hi."

She squealed and tossed her arms around his neck. For a moment he was to surprised to move, but then he returned the hug. Her squeal aparently having woken up some one else heavy rapid foot steps could be heard clomping down stairs from deeper with in the dark house.

"Neji!" She cried again, muffled by his shoulder.

"It's OK, I forgive you, Hinata. And. . . I'm sorry." He stroked her hair. "I've been nothing but cruel to you."

She sniffled and shook her head. "I forgive you too!"

Lee poked his head out from the other room, a pair of white boxers on his head, and his feat stuffed in to some ratty slippers. "Is every thing OK?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes. "Is Neji OK?"

"I'm OK Lee." Neji replied. "What's with the underpants?"

Lee blinked, still half awake. "My head was cold." He smiled and shuffled over, the boxers swaying like over sized rabbit ears. Grinning a little he dropped to his knees next to Hinata and hugged Neji's waist. "I was so. . ." He yawned, loudly, ". . .worried about you!" A second latter he started to snore.

"You must speak with him about his choice in apparel." Shino commented dryly.

"Oh, trust me, I have." Neji reached down and pulled the boxers off and gave them a toss. "But do you think he listens?"

Tenten appeared after that, her hair down in waves of soft brown, wearing a mans shirt that seemed to swallow most of her body. She rubbed her bleary eyes and grinned.

"Neji!"

He smiled up at her, momentarily caught up in how her hair seemed to glow in the moon light. "Tenten."

She climbed on to the back of the couch and laid down, her hand dropping to take up his free one. "We were so woried about you. Are you going to be OK?"

"I'm going to be all right." He gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand. "Thank you for being here. For. . . staying with me."

"We are a team." She yawned large and loud. "Why wouldn't we. . . come. . . here. . .?" She closed her eyes and fell asleep, looking happy. Moments latter she slid down and wedged unconciously between Neji and the couch's back.

Sheno laughed again, trying to stay quiet. "Looks like you are suddenly very popular."

Loking over the collection of teens nestled up against him Neji smiled and settled in comfortably. Never would he have been given this sort of attention back at the compound. Looking up he frowned a little as a sidden frightening thought entered his mind. This was not all of his team. "Just so long as Guy doesn't sleep on me I'm OK with this." He frowned and looked around for the overly emotional man. "Where is Guy Sensei?"

"He returned to the village to speak with Kakashi Sensei."

Neji yawned and pulled both arms free. With a light smile he set one hand on Hinata's head, the other on Tenten's. "So he's not going to come lay in me too then?" He was surprised at how he could be both relived and worried at the same time. Even with all of the others there being alone with out the loud man made him feel strangely exposed. He'd be useless to fend off any attacks, and his team was still exhausted after the escape and journey.

"No." Shino said.

"Does any one else know where we are?"

"No, but do not worry, Neji, he will return soon. And I have my insects scouting the aria. If any one comes we will know well in advance."

Neji smiled again. "Oh good." Once more he yawned.

"Sleep. If you can under all of them, that is. I will wake you on the morning."

"OK." He closed his eyes and in moments had joined his team and cousin in slumber.

…...

After Tenzo was safely deposited on his mother's floral couch Asuma walked with Guy towards the hospital. Guy by now was weeping openly and, as embarrassing as it was to be with a grown man who was crying like a teen age girl, Asuma could not bring him self to abandon the man. Besides, what if he found Kurenai there?

He chased the thought from his mind as best he could and turned his attention to the man shuffling over the side walk next to him. Asuma winced back at how ridiculous Guy looked clinging to him self and weeping openly. He distanced him self from the other ninja as he recalled the hushed whispers from his students and other shinobi towards Guy. Not may could stand the overly exuberant 'Green Beast', and some went to lengths to avoid him all together. It was definitely 'uncool' to be walking next to him.

And dangerous. If Guy was captured here, in the dark, Asuma could be arrested as well just for being with him. The urge to leave the emotional mess and go find Kurenai was strong, but he also knew abandoning Guy was the same as turning his back on Guy's problems, which, he noted, seemed to be tied in to his own problems just by association through the students.

But he couldn't stand all of that crying. Ninjas don't cry. Ever.

With a rough sigh he tentatively wrapped his arm around Guy's shoulders and cleared his throat. "Um... It's going to be OK." He patted Guy's back a little.

Instantly the man turned and gripped him in a crushing hug and sobbed out loud. Asuma bit his lower lip and fought the urge to toss him in tot he nearest lamp post.

"No." Guy shook his head. "It's NOT!" He sobbed harder, causing his whole body to shake. "I can't bear to think of what Kakashi is feeling right now!"

Asuma very carefully wrapped his arms around Guy, trying to pity the man few people tolerated. "You'll be there for him." He offered in the best soothing tone he could manage.

Guy nodded and pulled back just enough to look up at Asuma. "Yes. But with Hiashi after me how can I protect my students and help him AND stay free AND. . ."

"Stop." Asuma hissed sharply, finally at his limit for all of that depression and disregard. "You are the Green Beast of Konoha! You _never_ give up! You are Might Guy!"

Guy nodded, but did not look wholly convinced. "But Asuma." He sniffled. "I'm. . . I'm getting to old for this."

Asuma's jaw wanted to drop in shock at that. He clenched it tightly instead and hardened his resolve to get Guy to act like the man he was rather than the little teenage girl he seemed to personify. "Old, Guy? Old? Did you just say _OLD_?" He looked down sternly, searching the sullen face before him. "You didn't."

"I did." He hung his head in shame and shook it. "I'm. . . tiered." His voice trembled. "I just can't do all of this on my own!"

"But you aren't alone!" Asuma retorted.

"My mission is dangerous." He clung again, like a child needing his mother's protection. "I can't lead my students in to danger they don't need to be in!" He sniffled, again and added. "All I can do now is try to help Kakashi before Hiashi finds me. I hope I have trained my students well enough to stand alone with out me. Because my life is over!" And the tears welled up once more.

"Oh for the love of. . ." Asuma grabbed Guy's arms and prided them off of his mid section. "Get a hold of your self!"

"I'm sorry. . ."

"Not yet you aren't" Asuma stepped back from Guy and crossed his arms over his chest, hoping that would bar the still crying girly-man from giving him another clingy hug. He knew, some where, deep down, that what he was about to do was unload all of his stress on the wide eyed, soppy faced, oldish-baby-man, but he just could not stop him self. "First of all, no one wants to respect you when all you do is cry and cling and hug and. . . All of that feminine crap you tend to do so much. And second of all you can't just keep throwing your self at a problem physically. I don't care how your body works in keeping you young, but I know for a fact that none of your students posses your. . . _unique_ qualities. . . and that your style of training is not good for them. Not got Neji, not for Tenten and not for. . ." he pstoped here and swallowed the rest of that particular rant, not wanting to voice out loud the rumors that had been going around for years about Guy and Lee. Another time, maybe, but not tonight.

But before Guy could say any thong he move on to a new topic. "You want to do good, I know you do. You want to help so bad that you are nearly bursting with good intent and all of that warm fuzzy intent normally reserved for puppies and butterflies, but you are a full grown man who, I pray, has the guts to do just one thing with out throwing a little girl hissy fit."

Guy sucked in a breath, looking both ready to cry again, and throw said hissy fit. Asuma went on, overriding any thing he might say. "But you, like all of the girls who think what they have on is the most fashionable thing since cloths were invented, git so wrapped up in doing good that you actually take on WAY to much and end up crashing. . ." He would have gone on, but the look in Guy's eyes was changing from hurt and desperation to a subtle blend of anger and determination.

"The only reason I take on so much is because no one else has the passion to take on all they can!" He balled up his fists and stood like a rock. "What have YOU done to help Kakashi? What have YOU done to keep Naruto safe?"

Asuma started to answer, but this time Guy spoke to quickly for him to reply.

"Shikamaru. . . does he have the will to do any thing he's not ordered to do? Have you instilled any passion in to him? Have you even tried?"

"His mind. . ." Asuma started, but Guy cut him off again.

"His mind will be infective if he does not care for a cause he can believe in. A book filled with wisdom does no good sitting on a shelf gathering dust."

"No, no it does not." Asuma admitted.

A thick silence that felt just a little hostile settled between them. Asuma stared down at his feet, regretting all of the venting he'd done, but unable to take it back. Guy was pacing back and forth in front of him, back to looking distressed. But instead of crying, as he had been, he looked determined.

"Students." Guy finally said wearily. "You said Choji was nearly killed. Is that true?"

Asuma nodded bitterly. "Did Neji try to kill him self?" When Guy didn't answer Asuma looked up and found the other ninja studying him.

"No." Guy said darkly.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that."

"I mean no, he didn't." Guy shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "But I can't talk about it. Not yet."

Asuma saw a depth that most people considered Guy incapable of. It was a deep sorrow that seemed to fill his soul all of a sudden. "Is he OK?"

"Physically he will be." Guy said cryptically. "But it's going to be a long road before his youthful essence is back. What about Choji?"

"They said he'd be OK."

"How did he get hurt?" This time real concern and an honest look of care washed over Guy's face.

"Umino Iruka." Asuma was just a little shocked at how bitterly the words came out.

"Iruka. . ." Guys' eyes widened. "Naruto's first." He took a breath and stepped back, like he'd been struck again. "He tried to kill Choji?"

Asuma nodded. "He killed two Akastuki men as well. He's gone mad, Guy."

Guy gaped and shook his head. "Iruka? That kind teacher?"

"Yeah. This whole world is falling apart around us. All because of Naruto. And now, with out him, we have no deference against the threats that are looming over us. Even from our own people."

Guy looked away down the street and hugged him self again. There were no tears this time, but instead a hollow pained look. "And Kakashi. . ." He shook his head. "I need to find him."

Asuma shoved his hands in to his pockets. "And I need to find Kurenai. I'll walk with you to the hospital."

Guy nodded. "OK." Still the sadness in his eyes lingered. "Iruka, who would have thought?"

…...

Shizune sat watching Iruka as he huddled on the bed, curled up over his own knees. He was shaking just a little, and mumbling to him self in bleak tones. In the thin strands of moon light he looked almost ghostly.

"Iruka you really need to try and calm down." She said after several minutes.

He looked up at her over his folded arms. His hair was falling down in his face and his eyes had a thin blue cast to them.

"Calm down?" He asked in a rough whisper. He shook his head. "No, not while he's still there. I can hear him." His eyes narrowed. "I can here him telling me to get out of here. He wants me to leave."

"You are just scared, Iruka. Running can't help you."

"I need to find him." He shoved his head back down.

"Find who?"

"Naruto." He moaned. "I need to bring him home."

Shizune stood and walked up to him. "Iruka." She brushed some of his unruly hair back. "You know you can't, and even if his body were back there is nothing you can do for him now."

He shivered under her finger tips. "You don't get it." He glanced back up, the blue cast still in his eyes. "You just don't get it. I need to get his body before they get the tailed beast."

"Iruka. . ."

"And then. . . then I have to stop Kakashi."

She sat down on the bed and picked his head up. "Listen to me, Iruka, it's NOT Kakashi's fault he's dead. You are hurting right now, yes, but dwelling on Kakashi isn't going to help. He's got to be just as heart broken as you are right now. All you need to think about right now is getting better."

"But he'll get the tailed beast."

Shizune smoothed back his hair and set her hands on his shoulders. "Kakashi is not your problem, Iruka. This persona, you keep talking about is. You have to find away to accept that Fuka and you are the same person. You just have different ways of protecting people. OK?"

"He's evil."

She shook her head. "You are Fuka, Iruka, and you are not evil, you are sick."

"No, he's a killer!" He tried to pull away, but she held him tight.

"The only people you killed were the Akastuki, and you did that to keep Naruto safe. He was your son. And you did what you had to do. And if you could go back and save Naruto you would have killed any one, even Orochimaru. Wouldn't you?"

He looked up at her, the blue of his eyes dazzling. "Yes. . . I would have killed any one who would have hurt him. Any one."

"That's not wrong, Iruka, that's what it means to be a parent. Kakashi is no different."

"You are wrong, he has the Sharingan, he is different." He looked own at his slightly shaking knees. "And if I had to, I would have killed him too."

…...

Jiraya looked at the thin, tall, silver haired, masked killed before him and drew in a breath. "Kakashi!"

From behind him he could hear Tsunade standing. They had been going over the defense systems of the city and the plans to repel Orochimaru for the last few hours. He'd wanted to get her to go home and sleep and leave the title of Hokage alone for just one night.

He wanted to let her be the woman she needed to be, to hurt, and to cry. . .

She didn't need this.

"No." The masked man said coldly. "I am wolf."

_It had taken a long, long, time to melt Kakashi's icy, non-literal, mask of indifference and disinterest, but Naruto had done it. Jiraya crossed the street and walked down the road towards the tower, recalling all the ways Kakashi had tried to shut people out in the past. He'd been indifferent, distant, mysterious, and aloof. Now he was smiling and talking and sitting comfortably with his mask off and saying 'Thank you'. The difference in his demeanor was like night and day._

"Why?" He asked. More to him self, or maybe to the Hokage that no longer walked among them. Maybe to Naruto, rest his soul. Kakashi answered in the same icy voice.

"Because I am more important as a weapon, than I am as a body on a bed."

Jiraya tried to look past the mask and in to the eyes of the man he had so recently seen smiling and living like life was precious. When he couldn't see those eyes past the snarling mask, he lowered his gaze.

"Please, don't do this to your self." He begged. "Please, don't do thins to Naruto."

"The jinchuriki is dead." There was just the smallest hitch in his voice, a whisper of the aggony he was covering up under all of that shiny white porcelen. Maybe, had Jiraya had more rest, or more time to prosess what had happened, or even been able to simply convince Tsunade to take a brake, he wouldn't have felt the anger that suddenly started to swell in his chest. But no of those things had happened.

"How can you just turn every thing off?" He spoke in low, hot, angry words. "How can you just throw away every thing he tried to do for you?" He clenched his fist, afraid of the way his hands were shaking. "Minato tried to save you. He would have been so happy to see you happy with his son. And Naruto. . ." A warm soft hand landed on his shoulder and he turned.

Stunade would not look in to his eyes. "Move, Jiraya."

He backed away, unable to do any thing else. Tsunade stepped up to where he had been. "Remove the wolf mask."

"Hokage. . ."

"NOW!" She roared.

Kakashi reached up carefully and pulled the mask off of his face. Glassy fevered eyes were relieved, sunk deep in dark circles. His skin was pale and covered in a thin sheet of sweat. Stunade stared at him for a moment.

"Bastard!" She slapped him as hard as she could.

He took it with out flinching. Dead eyes stared levelly at her.

She glowered at him for a long, long, moment before turning on her heal and marching to her desk. "You want to kill your self in some way that makes you different than your father, fine." She snatched up a scroll from a pile and returned to the door way. "But I will not help you do that." She shoved the scroll in to his chest. "You are NOT to leave the village. You are NOT to take any S-rank, or even A-rank missions. Ever. You'll have to get really creative if you want to find away to end this miserable existence you've sunken in to!" At that she slammed the door closed and returned to her chair.

Jiraya, still standing with his fists clenched, could not look up at the woman. He didn't want to see the added ache in her eyes.

A muffled sob met his ears some time latter and he forced him self to move to her side.

"Tsunade." He took her shoulders. "Lets go home."

She nodded against him. "OK."

Carefully, gently, he lead her out of the room, silently promising to look after her till dawn. Till she had to pick up the title of Hokage again. Just for one night he'd make sure she was cared for like she should have been the whole time.

Tonight, just for one night, she was going to let him. Because he loved her. and she knew it.

…...


	21. Black Ice Part One

I know it has been a LONG time, and I will have to ask you to forgive me for that, but life is what it is and has taken a lot of my time and energy as of late. But I come bearing a gift. This is a special and will come in four parts. It features the missing member of Team 7, and the formation of his team. I'm deviating from cannon here a lot, and re-crafting most of the characters that are in this special.

This first chapter I have worked over and over again and I'm not sure how I like it. It's pace is slow and follows one character continuously, which is some thing new for me. I DO hope you like it, and that it's comprehensible. Let me know what you think and what I ought to do different for the next chapter.

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**Black Ice Part One**

Deep black shadows were sorted by dark browns of tree trunks and the indistinct green foliage of countless leaves. Glittering yellow or red eyes peered out from under thick shrubs, while the shine of glossy translucent wings flickered between the massive trunks. Chirps, clicks, and a cacophony of trills and whines filled the hot sultry night air like the notes of a grand orchestra. Every note was strung in time with every other in time, and blended in to one vast song that sprawled from one lofty mountain to another. Shining down on it all the moon graced the Sound forest with soft silver beams.

Oblivious to the world around him Sasuke stepped heavily over one damp and mossy tree root. A snap in the twigs just beyond where he could see caused him to stop mid stride and freeze.

The jungle felt dark and suffocating as he fought his was through the thick vegetation. Scarlet thorns, sharp as daggers, reached out and scratched at him like claws. Creatures just out of his sight writhed in the corners of his vision. Ghost like, the phantoms seemed to be searching for him, ready to strike at any moment.

His heart was pounding so hard he could feel his pulse in his arms and legs. His whole body throbbed with numb and pain and cold and fever.

From a bush near by some thing darted out and he let out a strangled yelped. Leaping away he tripped on a tangled knot of vines and slammed down hard on to the damp ground. The moment he landed pain shot through his shoulder. He reached back and touched the cursed mark, noting that the whole aria felt inflamed and hot to the touch.

Another snap sounded from some where near him and caustic panic swelled up, nearly drowning out all other feeling. With a gasp he scrambled to his feet and tried to calm him self, but the terror was building. Some thing slithered over his foot and he started to run, but the vines caught him again and threw him down once more. Once again he hit the ground _hard_. This time the force was strong enough, and sudden enough, to knock the wind from him completely.

Shaking he pulled him self to his knees and looked around with wide, frightened, inky black eyes. All around him eyes shown down like hundreds of stars, shimmering coldly from the dark green and black-blue canopy that hung above him.

Hungry. Predatory. Some of them glowed red and shown bright against the dark back drop of the trees. Red like blood, eyes like the Uchiha.

Trembling he groped behind him till his fingers touched the rough bark of the nearest tree. Against it's cool damp surface he huddled, exhausted, and terrified. His curse mark stung when the bare skin skimmed the bark and he winced.

It had only been a hand full of hours since Orochimaru had died, but already every thing his world had consisted of had crumbled in to oblivion. All of the hatred he had fostered for his brother was gone. In it's place uneasy questions bubbled up dark and thick like tar that sucked him down and refused to let him go. Questions born on the truths Sai had shown him.

He pulled his knees close and tried to calm his breathing once more, but he could not quell the panic racing through him now. According to Sai Sasuke's brother was innocent of the crimes he'd confessed, and what was more, it hadn't been Itachi's wishes for any of this to happen. Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to force him self to take a calm breath. His nerves were far to shot now, however, to recover any sort of focus now.

_Sasuke bid the door open at the sound of a knock. Pale faced the teen from before stood in the open doorway slowly lowering his fist. Sasuke didn't need to inquire as to why he was there, he knew. "You have come to kill me."_

_The teen frowned, just a little. "I've come. . ." He took a breath and thought for a moment. "I am a member of Team seven and in the name of the Dove of peace I've come to give you the Truth."_

_The words sounded foolish. They sounded like the sort of rubbish Naruto would have spouted out. "The only truth I know is that I will kill my brother." He took a slow breath and leveled his eyes on the youth before him. There was some thing hauntingly familiar about him. "If any one stands between me and my Goal then I will eliminate them."_

_"Itachi." He said slowly, softly. A flicker of an emotion flashed through his dark eyes. "I know where he is. I have come to deliver the truth."_

Sasuke opened his eyes before the memory could go on any further. He looked around at the jungle Orochimaru him self had nurtured. It's trees were like the ones from the leaf village, but unlike the woods in the Fire Country, which had only a few birds scattered about the branches, every inch of this forest teemed with mutant life. Sasuke had never noticed just how vast the Sound Country had become under Orochimaru's care, or how densely packed it was with life it had become. He'd been too blinded by his hatred to take note of such things.

Under the thin silver moon light hew could see the trees climbing to the clouds. It was all old wood that had been dry and half dead when they had first arrived three years before. While Kabuto had declared this the whole aria of Rice Country unworthy of investigation or cultivation Orochimaru had smile a patient smile towards his favourite pet medic.

"_Kabuto-kun, this land belongs to us, and so long as we are here, we might as well see what it has to offer. Don't you think?"_

The medic did not agree, but had not challenged Orochimaru's wishes then, and in the end praised the Sanin's efforts. Now, as Sasuke gazed up at the old wood giants swaying gently, his mind drifted back to the forest the Land Of Fire. Old memories he'd buried long, long ago started to surface, memories of warm summer days and cool summer nights.

The first time he'd seen the forest had been with his mother. Her soft face and smiling eyes had comforted him as the huge expanse of wood and canopy threatened to swallow him whole. She had held him close till the fear was gone, then let him go.

"_It's OK, Sasuke, nothing can hurt you here." She stepped past him and started to gather things in to a basket. "This forest protects us, and provides for us." She held the basket out for him to look in to. It was filled with fruits and nuts. All the kinds he liked. "See?"_

Sasuke pressed back against the tree trunk hard and winced at the ache around the cursed seal. His curse body had been all but destroyed in one huge Chakra blast earlier. After that, from the moment Orochimaru had died, the seal had started to hurt. It was spreading slowly, and unlike in the times past, it was not enhancing any of his abilities. Now, rather than helping him use his chakra, it was blocking it, keeping him from accessing any energy what so ever. With out chackra he could do nothing. His sharingan was out of his reach and every thing the serpent Sannin had taught him was useless. He felt helpless.

A rumbling croak from a frog startled him and he jumped up with a yelp. The toad eyed him with disinterest before hopping away in to a small stream. Unnerved Sasuke pushed him self on. He tried to focus on the world around him, and on the way which he needed to go to get out of the thick jungle, but he had no idea where he was now. Lost, and nearly numb with shock, his steps wandered aimlessly. His mind drifted once more back to the conversation he'd has with Sai.

"_Your brother didn't kill your clan, Sasuke."_

"_LIES!" _

Using the Sharengan he had entered Sai's mind-scape. It had been a strange place, like a forest. The ground and the creeling were made of the same substance, and the trees, if they could be called that, had taken root in both the creeling and the floor. Chains of thick black chakra bound seals to some of the trees, but not all of them. Locks to keep some memories hidden, even from Sai.

"_I can show you, Sasuke. Your brother didn't kill your clan."_

"_Lies."_ He had snapped. _"Itachi killed them, I saw it my self!"_

"_Could you have stood up to the genjutsu of an ANBU black Ops Agent at that age, Sasuke?"_

The jungle had failed. One black haired teen had come and undone every thing. Six words. They would never leave his soul.

"_Lies."_ He had hissed again, defiant, startled that the idea had never occurred to him before.

"_Can I lie to you here? Inside my own mind? Come."_ Sai had beaconed him then, urging him to come deeper in to the mind scape. _"See for your self."_

It took Sasuke a moment to realize that the 'trees' in this mind forest were very much like clusters of brain cells. Curiosity had gotten the better of him at that point and he had reached out to touch the one 'trees' they had been passing. Sai started to warn him, but it had already been to late. The moment Sauke's fingers touched the 'tree' he had been flooded with a memory that was not his own.

He tried to pull back, but the image of his brother, kneeling before a heavily scarred man covered in bandages and scowling venomously down, flooded him mercilessly. He watched, helpless to do any thing else, as the man struck Itachi hard across the face. Blood dripped from the Uchiha's nose and he gasped in pain, but he returned to his kneeling position.

"_I ask you, __**beg you**__, have mercy on Sasuke. Haven't you done enough damage to him alre. . ." Again the bandaged man struck him._

"_He's left the village and joined Orochimaru. Do you honestly think I will allow him to live because you wish it?"_

_Itachi's dark eyes looked up mournfully. "He's innocent."_

"_He's a traitor, and what's more he's a threat to the mission. Now out with you! You will do as you are told, Itachi, or you'll end up like Hawk."_

Sai had pulled Sasuke out of the memory at that moment, and stood by calmly in the strange inner universe while Sasuke tried to grapple with the image of his brother on his knees begging.

"_What was that?"_ He had asked, shaking. _ "Lies. It has to be lies!" _

Then, when he'd glanced up in to Sai's eyes, he could not have grasped what the other teen's memory meant. Now, as he struggled to keep his feet from tangling in the thick undergrowth, he was fighting just to keep it all together in light of what it implied.

"_Your brother didn't kill your clan, Sasuke."_

His breath caught in his throat and he dropped to his knees. Once more he backed up to a tree and hugged his knees to his chest. "Why?" Dipping his head down he closed his eyes and gasped against the strange numb that had engulfed him. "Why, Itachi? _Why_?"

It had all been a lie, from the very beginning. The whole vision Itachi had fed him was a fabrication. Before Sai could elaborate Sasuke had pulled way, his reality crumbling around him.

_"No. Nononono. . ." He started to shake and slide down against the wall, his legs no longer able to support him. "You are lying! LIES! My brother killed them. ALL of them!"_

_Sai stepped forward and knelt down before him while giving him a cool look of pitty. He pulled out a book and flipped through the pages until Sasuke saw sketches of him self. "See, these are your true feelings."_

_He looked at them, disbelieving, his breaths coming in trembling gasps. The room was spinning now and he couldn't breath. Slowly he reached up and slid his fingers in to his hair as he looked at the images of him self huddled in a corner crying. That was what he was nearly doing exactly, but he refused to. . . It couldn't be true. . ._

_"And this. . ." He Sai to another page. "Is your brother."_

_Sasuke glanced dwn again at the pages and saw Itachi happily holding a child in his arms. There was no Black Akatsuki robe, no cold hatred in the eyes. There was pain there, however, and a bitter sweet smile. It was how Itachi had been before. . . Before. . ._

_The date printed in the corner indicated that it was only a hand full of months old. _

_"Why?" He nearly wailed, his whole body was near convulsion as reality unknit it's self. Itachi had been the killer. He was to be the avenger. This had been the sun light and the air, the ground and the water. With out the hatred every thing he had been was suffocating, withering away, dieing. "__**WHY!**__"_

_Sai frowned, looking upset, and a but sad. "I don't know. You'll have to find him and ask him your self." He stood and offered his hand. "You know where he is now."_

He _did_ know. Among the many memories Sai had given him was one of a base far off between the Earth and the Grass country. Were he at peak physical and mental condition it would take him two weeks to reach the aria where he could start looking for his blood, his brother. But in the state he was in now, with his mind in shock and his chakra sealed away from him, there was little he could do.

He had to find away to reverse what ever bind had been placed on his cursed seal, or he'd never accomplish any of his goals. For that he had to reach one of the laboratories and search the data base. But even making it to one of those places would be an exercise in endurance and survival.

He stumbled a few feet more before stopping to lean against the trunk of a massive tree. Gasping slowly he blinked and, for the first time since the deep seeded horror had taken hold in his mind, after he had left Naruto and the others, he took stock of him self. He had his sword, and his sandals, and he had what remained of his pants. In his wanderings he had torn them against many, many thorns. The cloth hagging down his legs was little more than rags.

He took another huge breath in and closed his eyes. The unreality of the situation made the eerie jungle seem tame, almost normal. But as he stood, leaning against the slick damp bark, he could hear the movements of creatures all around him. Some of them were small, others the size of dogs, or larger.

A stick snapped and he opened his eyes. With out turning his head he focused on the sounds around him. The animals were falling quiet, some were leaving the aria. Some were fleeing. He closed his eyes again and strained his ears. More sticks snapped as heavy feet came down on them.

Some one was following him.

He slid his hand down to it's hilt and curled his fingers around the handle of the lightning blade. Maybe every thing Orochimaru had taught him would be useless, but lessons learned from his academy days started to echo in his head. The feint memory of a soft face with a large scar over the bridge of the nose floated up like a ghost. Sasuke couldn't remember the teacher's name, but he could remember the man pressing the importance to make sure you knew how to fight with the weapons you had, chackra powered or no.

With out chakra the lightning blade was only sharp steel.

Another stick snapped and he twisted around to press his back against the trunk. Silently he started to walk around, searching the darkness for the shapes of humans. With out the sharingan the jungle was an abstract painting of dark shapes and meaningless forms. He stepped further around the tree. Three were no animals near now. Still he could hear the snapping of branches and feet coming.

There was more than one person, he was sure of it. He pulled his blade out as he realised he was surrounded. His breath caught in his throat as one figure started to materialise, then another. Bony faces with hollow eyes stared at him. Hands clutched branches or rusted blades, some even sported the limbs of animals fresh killed.

Sasuke pressed him self tight against the trunk of the trea as he ralised that, like him self, these were people with the cursed marks. However, unlike him self, their body had shut down in while they were in the cursed form. Snarling and jeers started to rise from the velvet blackness.

"Stay back." He rasped, brandishing his own blade.

More came in to view, all with hollow inhuman eyes.

"Sssssasssuke." A huge beast of a man slurred. "Give us." He lurched forward. "We want the secrets of Orochimaru."

Sasuke glanced up the trunk. The thick vines would support his weight, and from with in the trees he may yet be able to escape. More lessons from his academy days started to shine in the back of his mind. Reaching up with his free hand he grabbed one thick vine.

"I don't have any secrets." Quickly he bit down on his sword and started to climb with both hands. A huge fist grabbed his left foot and yanked. Sasuke yelped and kicked with his right foot and landed a solid blow to the beast's nose. It fell, but took the sandal with him. Sasuke kicked off his other sandal and started to haul him self up with hands and feet.

With out his shoes his feet were free to grip the vines along with his hands and he found him self making quick progress. Below him the others also made quick work of climbing, staying only a few feet behind. He bit down on the sword hard to keep it from slipping and forced him self to move faster. Branches started to sprout from the main trunk and he took the opportunity to use them to his advantage.

All of his lessons from his youth were now unfolding in his mind like a book he'd forgotten about long ago. The trees here, so very much like the ones in the Land of fire, no longer looked like forbidding giants, but like open rodes and highways. Glancing back he saw that many of the mutants following him were having trouble climbing. Not all of them were from forested places. The one who were, however, were catching up.

He looked around, his breaths coming out harsh past the blade in his teeth, before he grabbed hold of more vines. Hauling him self up by his arms he climbed higher. Back in The Land of Fire chakra had been the means to move from one tree to another, but here the vines were more than supplemental for the task. Once he reached a higher branch he crouched and drew his blade from his bite. As a number of mutants started to climb the same vine he cut it and watched with a bit of satisfaction as they plummeted back down. Along the way several more where knocked back from the main trunk.

He stood and looked up to see what was next available to him when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively he leaped back from the form just as a hand shot out to grab him. He landed out on the middle of the branch and swayed dangerously. The branch was slick under his naked feet and there were only two small weedy vines to grasp for support.

The assailant stepped on to the branch, opened it's fanged ape like mouth and screamed. Sasuke stepped back again and held his sword up. The mutant scooted out further, it's arms spreading wide to keep it balanced. Neither had chakra, Sasuke realised, but it had the advantage of a larger platform where it was standing. Sasuke glanced down, searching for options, and saw many of the mutants were now swarming the tree. If the fall didn't kill him the monsters below would.

He returned his focus on to the creature before him. It parted it's lips showing off four inch fangs. "Give." Lurching forward it took another swipe at Sasuke.

Sasuke ducked.

"Give secrets."

More were climbing up all around them, hooting and whispering and growling. Sasuke took another step back as he clutched the two spindly vines in one hand, and his sword in the other. "I have no secrets!" He called out.

The one before him grinned and pointed. "No secrets. Kill."

Sasuke looked all around again at the shadows swarming around him. Then once more he glanced down. Gripping the two vines tightly he glared back at the mutants. All of this was Orochimaru's handy work and he, with the cursed seal still acting under the dead Sannin's orders, was the crowning jewel.

The fear cooled from his mind as anger once more flashed through him. He'd been used like tool. By Orochimaru, and by Itachi.

The beast before him screamed again and they all started to scramble towards him. Sasuke screamed his own savage scream and leaped from the branch.. The two vines strained as he clung to them, but held till he landed on a neighboring tree. There even more mutants were waiting for him.

One huge one with armor plated skin charged him. Sasuke shoved his sword in to the beasts chest with a savage, raging, howl. The mutant gasped and yelped before falling limp. Sasuke shoved it aside and pulled his sword free. As the body fell from the tree two more mutants charged. Sasuke leaped again, once more using the vines as supports. This time he landed on a clear spot and started to climb up once more. He kept his sword in his hand and cut down any beast who dared to cross his path.

Racing from limb to limb, and swinging from tree to tree, he shook most of the creatures following him, leaving only the most skilled and determined to chase after. Several times their grimy finger nails bit in to his skin as they tried to grab him from below, but each time he cut them down and knocked them free.

Here Sasuke the avenger was gone, and only Sasuke Uchiha of the Village hidden in the Leaves remained. But he was only one ninja without a team and with out Chakra.

A thick, hollow dead limb jutted up before him. Grimacing in pain from the cursed seal he scrambled on to it. Once he has sure footing he stood, gasping for air, as he took in his options. There were no more vines here to climb up, and no branches near enough to reach by jumping. He was as far as he could go.

The mutant men were still coming. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, trying to catch his breath. Sweat dripped down along his spine and plastered his hair to his face.

"_Foolish little brother. If you wish to kill me one day in hate and revenge... Surviving in such an unsightly manner as this... By all means, flee; Cling to your wretched life. Then one day, when you possess the same eyes... Come back and face me."_

"_I ask you, __**beg you**__, have mercy on Sasuke. Haven't you done enough damage to him_

Sasuke opened his eyes and starred up at the full moon. The same moon that had back lighted the figure of murder. The figure with the blood red eyes. The eyes that had. . .

Had they been crying? He could remember seeing the moon light reflected on tears.

A grumble from under him brought his attention back down. An enormous hulking cursed ninja was crawling up the tree. A vicious smile was spread across it's face. Sasuke pulled his body in to a balanced, battle ready, posture, and lifted his gore coated blade. The beast pulled him self up on to the branch and purred in anticipation. Thick bone layered over the skin like scales, giving him an almost lizard like appearance. Drool spilled freely from the corners of his lips, landing on the dead limb and oozing off of it's edges. Sasuke backed away while readying his blade for the strike.

For several moments both stared at each other, the hulking creature grinning hungrily, while Sasuke continued to gasp, mouth open, chest heaving. Tossing it's head back the beast howled and beat his chest, trying to intimidate and prove it's strength. Sasuke saw the thin skin of it's throat and made his move swiftly. Plunging the steel in to the flesh he cut the howl off short. The beast gasped and flailed wildly in pain and shock. With a strangled roar it's eyes refocused on Sasuke. Shaking it lifted on hand and grabbed the sword.

Sasuke pulled back, trying to free his only weapon, but the mutant's knees buckled at that moment and, as it fell, the sword snapped only six inches from the hilt. Sasuke cried out in shock and watched as the cursed creature fell, the sharp tip of his blade still protruding from the back of it's neck. As it fell it passed many, many other creatures, before crashing through vines and finally splashing down in to one of the long rivers that fed the jungle.

Staggering back with the cropped weapon still in his hand Sasuke's heal found the dead end of the hollow branch. He glanced back to confirm that he was out of room and was rewarded with the gaping void of air that split the jungle in two above the river.

There was nothing under him, no where to go, and the enemy was still coming. Once more he closed his eyes. His thirst for revenge was gone and every thing he had been had vanished with it. The cursed seal had rendered his body useless and now he'd lost the only weapon he possessed. There was nothing left, no more foot holds to support him, nothing left underneath.

. . .Underneath. . . One last memory sprung to life, One last lesson from his youth.

"_A ninja must see underneath the underneath." _

There had been an easy smile and strong, _strong_, broad shoulders to lean on one, all those years ago. Wisdom and depth and safety seemed to radiate in the smiling eyes that peered out from under silver hair. After every thing that had happened, after all the pain, there had been one that understood. Just for a moment, back then, Sasuke had thought he could have given up his revenge. It had been one small sliver of sanity in an ever more dangerous spiral of hatred and pain. But he had rejected it, all of it.

How true had that statement been. Looking back now he could clearly recall the tears in Itachi's eyes, and the hurt look as he had been leaving. It had been a lie. All of it. He'd never bothered to look past what had been given him.

The creatures were grabbing at the hollow branch, pulling them selves up, leering and chattering and reaching. He sheathed his blade and spread his arms wide with his palms open. The creatures halted, their eyes searching him. Snapping his jaw shut he snorted and stepped back. Underneath him was only air. Under _that_ was the river.

Crashing down through the forest canopy he grabbed at the vines and smaller branches, slowing his descent. When he finally collided with the surface of the water the force was soft enough not to knock him out instantly, but it took the breath from him. Already winded from the climb, fight, and emotional distress, the last impact sapped him of what little reserves he had left.

Darkness engulfed him before he resurfaced.


	22. Black Ice Part Two

Second part in the 4 part special. Hasn't been beta read, but by now you know that. I still don't know how well I like writing like this, with it all flowing together in one massive chunk. I'm tempted over and over again to over write it, adding loads of detail and impact, but I know that won't help tell the story the way I want to tell it. Do tell me what I could do differently, or better, if you can.

Any way, I hope you enjoy what I have posted never the less!

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**Black Ice Part Two**

Cold water lapped up against his thigh. He took a slow breath and lifted his head. Jungle sprawled all around him, but in the hot sun the whole world seemed to be melting. The air was so saturated with moisture it was hard to breath.

Sasuke struggled to his knees in the shallows. Blood ripped down his arm and mixed in with the sluggish water, turning it from a gray greed to a murky brown. He took another breath before examining his wound. The cursed seal was oozing, but it was not a heavy bleed. He turned his attention away from it and stood. With his mind clearer and his jangled nerves calmer he could focus more readily on the task of finding his way to a lab where he could find a cure for his cursed seal before it got any worse.

Taking stock of him self he found his own condition no better than it had been the night before. What was left of his cloths hung loosely in ragged tatters around his waist, held up only by the frayed scraps of a belt. He'd lost both shoes and most of his sword. Only a scant few inches jutted out from the battered handle. It wasn't much, but lessons from his youth encouraged him just a little that if he was careful even what he had left would be useful to him.

He reached up to brush the hair out of his eye and felt some thing slimy. With a grunt he pulled a leach out from his hair line and tossed it down in disgust. Wearily he slogged forward after that and up the bank of the river away from the risk of any more leaches. Or any thing else that might bite, for that matter.

Farther up the bank and away from the river the air didn't seem so very thick, but the vegetation became a solid mass that was impossible to move through. He turned back to the river and made his way along it's banks.

While the jungle seemed to be still, pressed in to silence by the muggy heat, Sasuke knew that the mutants would still be after him. While they had been a mass of disorganized individuals the night before he knew that some were smart enough to start taking charge of the less intelligent. Bands would form, and they would become more and more dangerous.

He could not stop. He could not rest. He had to keep searching until he found the cure, or all would be lost.

A splash in the distance caught his attention and he gazed out across the murky river. Some brown furred animal was swimming away, it's wake splitting out and lapping up against solid looking square stones. He squinted and shaded his eyes from the river shine. Buried by vines and roots, and partly caved in, was the remains of a very old temple.

Sasuke smiled just a little as he recognised the old building. It was stationed nearly half way between the hide out where he and Orochimaru had been, and the nearest secret lab. If he followed the river he would make it to the lab by evening.

Another splash caught his attention, but this time he saw no animal. Frowning again he moved on. The walk was long, and many times he heard voices from the thick undergrowth, but each time he slipped past the day time phantoms. In the heat however, with each passing mile, his shoulder throbbed even more. Twice it opened to bleed freely. Both times he had to stop and rest, if only for a moment, as pain engulfed him.

To make matters worse the closer he got to the hidden lab the less visibility there was. A strange mist was rising from the damp jungle floor. It suffocated scents out of the air, and clung like tar to Sasuke's skin. Voices, real or imagined, were constant now, drifting through the ever darker air. Sasuke pressed on, desperation tugging at the back of his mind.

Just as Sasuke was starting to choke on the fog, a solid wall ghosted in to view. Enormous and crusted in vines both living and dead the lab looked like a fortress. And a fortress it was. Sasuke crept closer, his scenes heightened for any other human, mutant or other wise, in the aria, before he stood at the building's massive foundation. Leering down at him like dead fish eyes were small black windows. An aura of sickly green gray chakra radiated off the blackened glass giving them an altogether evil appearance.

They were sealed to be one way. Anything that went in through one of the windows would never be able to get back out unless they had the correct Chakra Key. A sharp pain raced through Sasuke's arm and he winced, remembering that he had no chakra to use. If he went in he'd be helpless to get back out unless he was cured, or could find some one to let him out. There was a gate keeper who had been an honest man once, and Sasuke knew the old man would let him out with out trouble. That was IF the lab experiments had not escaped their cages.

Most of the creatures with in the walls were no longer human, just as the mutants that were now following him were no longer human. Also like the mutants following after him these prisoners would demand Orochimaru's secrets. Once they would learn that he had nothing to give they too would seek to kill him.

He rubbed his shoulder and frowned. It was a bleak choice that lay before him. If he entered and the monsters were loose the chances were strong he'd be ripped to ribbons by the beasts that lay with in. If he didn't enter he would die from the corrupt curse mark.

Voices again sounded from the mist, prompting him to move. Death was not a choice he would take idly. He would not sit and wait for death to creep up on him from with in his own body. Taking the vines that hung off the side of the building in hand he started to climb. Compared to the assent in to the trees the night before this was easy. Quickly he reached one of the windows, which was much larger now that he was up close to it, and peered in side.

His fears were confirmed as he saw all manner of things roaming freely from with in the building. For a moment he paused and rethought his options. There were other labs. They were far away, however, and he knew he'd never make it to even the next nearest one. Grimacing he pressed his hand up against the eerily glowing glass and pushed it open. Before it could spread an inch he was pulled in by the inhuman chakra and thrown down against the cold steel of a lonely cat walk. The window shut with a mute click, trapping him irrevocably inside.

He lay where he was, still, for a moment, waiting for the masses to take him, but no one noticed his entrance. Slowly he shifted until he was on his elbows and peered down from the walk way. The old gate keeper was surrounded by inhuman beasts, all clambering to be let free. Behind the man a red head with thick black glasses cowered. He couldn't hear what any one was saying, but by reading the young woman's lips he could see she was begging her father to let the monsters go before they were both killed.

For now the two forces seemed to be at a stalemate. All energy was focused on the man and his daughter. No one was watching the file room.

Sasuke got to his feet and started down the path. Further in to the building he found it was dark. With a startled groan he realised the power was out. What ever files had been stored here would be irretrievable unless power could be restored. The only way to fix the power was from the out side.

Sasuke turned and looked back. The creatures were inching closer to the old man and his daughter. He had to get to them. Pulling his blade from it's raged sheath he started to make his way along the suspended cat walks towards a balcony that hung just opposite the man and the daughter. Long power lines hung like spider silk from many points in the ceiling, and now that they were dead he could swing from one just as easily as a vine in the trees.

As he climbed over the balcony wall and on to the grimy floor he studied the situation before him. The experiments were pressing the man from all sides now. One reached out and tore at his shirt. The girl screamed. Sasuke reached up and grabbed one power line and started to cut through it. The girl screamed again and the man cried out.

He was very nearly through the line when a huge strong hand grabbed him by the mouth and yanked him back. He yelped and tried to pull away, but a second hand scooped up both of his wrists and pined them to his chest.

"Easy." Came the heavy hiss in his ear. "If you are trying to do what I think you are trying to do forget it."

Sasuke gasped as best he could through his nose and thrashed.

"I said _easy_!" The hands squeezed tight and Sasuke was pressed in to the wall, pinning him to stillness. "Look, kid. . ." The voice paused. "You. . . Sasuke?"

Sasuke felt the hand lift a little and he turned his head. The man behind him was masked so completely only his mouth and his chin were visible. His cloths were black and gold and formed interlocking armour, like the shell of an insect. The hand over his mouth let go.

"Who are you?" Sasuke growled.

"Hornet. I'm a member of Konoha Black ops, so to speak."

The girl screamed once more, blood cur-telling and frantic, pulling Sasuke's attention to her direction.

"There is nothing you can do for the old man." Hornet said gruffly. "But they won't kill the girl so long as they believe she can let them out."

She screamed again, though with more pain and less panic.

Sasuke took a slow breath and pushed back from the wall. "Let me go."

Hornet released him and stepped away. Sasuke rubbed his shoulder self consciously and stared at Hornet. He was a massive man with wide shoulders and thick arms. His all black mask covered almost all of his head and a pair of gold rimmed goggles perched just above his hidden brow. Cool white eyes narrowed and Sasuke backed away.

There would be no way to win this fight. Not with out chakra. Sasuke rubbed his shoulder again. "What do you want?"

"Isn't that obvious?" He nodded towards the mass of moving bodies. "I want the key. I've been spying on Orochimaru and it's time for me to go. I would have bribed the old man and walked out of here, but some thing cause them to all rise up at once." he turned his attention back on Sasuke. "And now you." A deep, dark, frown spread over his lips. "Orohimaru is dead."

Sasuke nodded and winced when the girl screamed again. This time her voice was resigned, pained. "Does she have the key?"

Hornet glared.

"We have to get her." Sasuke said after a moment. He let his shoulder go. "Some how."

"I'll distract them." Hornet pulled a shimmering black kunai out and held it tight.

"You can't take them all on." Sasuke protested as he glanced the throng over.

"Kid, you have no idea what the hell I'm capable of." He reached out and yanked the power line free of it's socket and glared again. "The moment you get the girl you get that door open."

"But the experiments. . ." Sasuke started.

Hornet grabbed his good shoulder and shoved him to the balcony wall. "Are no longer your concern." He shoved the power cord in to Sasuke's hand and then pulled a second one from the wall. Taking a breath he jumped up on to the small wall and cried out in a horrific roar. His voice drowned out all of the other voices and for a moment there was silence. Only the weeping of the red head could be heard. Then Hornet dove for the centre of the mess. Every beast turned from the red head and dove for the masked black op agent.

Sasuke tried to follow his movements, but he was quickly engulfed by the sea of bodies. Taking a stand on the wall him self he too swung down, but silently. He landed roughly next to the girl, who had crawled to the side of her dead father. She was sitting, stunned, her cloths torn to rags.

"Hey, you." Sasuke grunted. "Come."

She looked up at him and stared blankly for a moment, then her eyes went wide. "S-sasuke?"

He shifted a little and readjusted the grip on the power line. Echoes of a memory traced his mind. Her face was familiar, some how. He pushed it all to the back of his mind. "We don't have time." He yanked her to her feet. "Hold on to me. I'm going to climb up so we can get over to the door."

"But my father. . ."

He yanked her close. "He's dead. There's nothing we can do for him now."

She looked down at the man, once again looking blank, but nodded. Dazed she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he winced when it burned.

"Your curse mark . . ."

"I know." He growled. It was agony to climb, but the creatures were starting to become a brawling mess. As he ascended he still couldn't see Hornet. He had done his job effectively, however, as every beast was now engaged in combat with another beast.

"They are killing each other." She whispered, her voice frosty with fear.

He grit his teeth and hauled them up to the cat walk. "Ignore them." Gripping her wrist he pulled her on, towards the massive door. "Can you open it?" He asked, still doubting.

"Yes, I can."

"Good." Only feet away he hesitated and looked back. There was still no sign of the Konoha agent. He refocused on the door. "Hurry and. . ." A heavy body slammed down in front of him. Dark gray green and drooling. The red head screamed.

"Ssssasuke. . ."

He pulled his cropped blade out and plunged it deep in to the monster's belly. It roared, then fell forward, almost taking all three of them down. She jumped back and Sasuke used the momentum to turn the beast as he fell and pull his blade free. He stood for a moment, gasping, before turning to look at her. She was shaking.

"Hurry up and get that door open!"

"I can't just let them go." She turned away and looked out over the bloodied rabble. "Father died to keep them from getting loose. I can't risk it."

Sasuke snatched her wrist and yanked her up to the door. "They'll all be dead by dawn. Now get this door _OPEN_!"

She startled at the volume of the last word, but dropped to her knees and did as she was told. Spreading her fingers wide she fed Chakra in to the seal, unwinding it. "Th-this will take a moment. . ."

"Just be as fast as you can."

She nodded. "You. . . you know. . ." She swallowed thickly. "I could re-lock it. Maybe. A large enough burst of chakra. . ."

Sasuke gazed over the enraged mas of bodies. "We'd trap him in here."

"Who?" She asked.

"An agent from Konoha." He clutched his sword tight as he spotted some mutants braking off from the main group. They started to amble, bloodied and battered, to where the old man's body was.

"Faster." Sasuke hissed.

"I'm working as fast as I can." She whimpered.

He growled and re-gripped his sword. The beasts were now investigating the aria. One stood tall and started to shout. Like a ripple in a pond the shout flowed through the brawling mass, catching every one's attention.

"They know you are missing." He hissed down to her.

"It's almost open."

Sasuke backed up and pressed his back against the solid steel. "Almost isn't good enough."

There was a strangled moment of silence that was abruptly interrupted with a snapping sound. She shivered and closed her eyes as she pressed hard against the doors. "It's open, but it's heavy."

A number of the creatures spotted them and started screaming and pointing. Sasuke turned and started to push against the door. It squealed as it started to turn on it's ancient hinges. More shouting rumbled up from the mutants and even more joined in the charge.

The door hitched and, only open an inch, refused to move any farther. Sasuke felt panic swell as he glanced back. The girl continued to push, but her whole body was shaking. With pain flaring up once more blood again started to drip down his shoulder.

He glanced down at her, then back at the masses. With the door open they had no more reason to spare her life. He lifted his sword and turned to look down at her. They wouldn't kill her quickly.

She glanced up at him once she sensed he'd stopped trying and caught sight of the sword.

"What's your name. I feel like I know you from some where."

She stared up at him wide eyed for a moment, then looked back at the approaching enemy. "K-karin." She looked back up at him with wide green eyes. "Sasuke. . .?"

"Close your eyes, Karin. This won't hurt."

Shaking and crying she did as she was told. He lifted the blade to her neck and took a hand full of her hair. Just as the blade nicked her skin he heard a savage cry from some where above them. Jerking his head up he spotted a black and gold figure on the cat walks. The living mass of mutants paused and looked up as well, some snarled while others howled in rage. The figure snapped another power cable free and came sailing towards Sasuke and Karin. Sasuke ducked down, pushing the girl down under him.

Hornet slammed in to the door with his feet, sending it flying open. He landed solidly and yanked Sasuke to his feet by his hair. "Get the hell out of here. Both of you!"

Karin stumbled to her feet and ran out of the building, trembling and stumbling. Sasuke hesitated. "What about you?"

"Never mind me." Hornet growled, then he shoved Sasuke out. Sasuke stumbled and fell hard on to the ground. He shook his head and looked up just in tome to see Hornet pulling the door closed while feeding it with chakra. It slammed shut, locking once more, trapping the brawny agent inside with the mutants.

Sasuke blinked and scooted away from the iron door. The thick mist was still covering every thing, and there were still voices in the forest. He had to get away.

"Karin?"

He couldn't see her, but he could hear her gasping and crying from some where nearby. He rolled to his hands and knees and shoved him self up. Giving the door one last look he stood and walked towards the soft sniffling. There was nothing he could do for the Konoha agent now.

"Karin? Answer me."

A miserable sob floated up.

"Karin?"

"Thank you." Her battered body formed in the mist as she made her way back to him slowly.

"For what?" He looked her over carefully. There were many scratches along her chest and neck. Most of her dress had been torn to shreds. Some how she'd managed to save just enough to cover what was important, but just barely. She rubbed the small cut on her neck where his cropped blade had grabbed her flesh. Slowly she hugged her self, trying to cover up what had been torn away.

"I know. . ." She swallowed again. "I know that. . . those creatures. . ."

He reached out and grabbed her wrist again, cutting her sentence off. "We have to keep moving." He pulled her forward, but with less force than he had before. "There are many, _many_, more creatures like those things out here in the woods, and they are all after me. Now that you have crossed my path they'll be after you too."

She sniffled but did not protest or resist.

"Do you know if the next lab is still operational?" He asked, looking back at her.

"No." She wiped her eyes, but the tears still streamed down her face. They ran tracks through the grit and dirt, leaving twin ivory stripes down her face. "Why? What are you looking for?"

He stopped pulling her and looked over his shoulder as best he could at the cursed mark. "Some thing happened to that when Orochimaru died."

She wiped her eyes again and leaned closer. "Oh... Your cursed mark. I've seen that so many times. . . It's not hard to treat if you have the source blood."

He frowned. "Source blood?"

She nodded. "Jugo the man eater is the original human with the cursed mark. I don't know exactly where he is, but I know where we can find a back up of some files. We could try to locate him from those."

"How far?"

She looked around. "Not far, maybe half a day's walk."

A low grunt sounded from the fog pulling Sasuke's attention to the place where they had just come from. From the low, gutteral quality, he knew it could not have been Hornet. He glanced around quickly and spotted a place where tree roots jutted up enough to hollow the ground out under them. Taking firm hold of karin's wrist once more he pulled her down to the hollow and nudged her in. She crawled in silently, eyes wide and frightened.

"Stay hidden." He whispered.

"What about you?" She asked as she backed further in and in to the dark shadows.

He glanced back. Phantoms were forming in the grey air. Dark grey ghosts with small, hungry, animal eyes. He pursed his lips for a moment he thought. There were dozens of them now, many carrying some large chunk of wood as a club. Looking back down at her he frowned. "I'll try to lead them off. . ."

"Do you have any chakra at all?" She asked.

He shook his head.

"Let me. I have just enough left for a clone. I could lead them in to the lab."

"You don't smell like me. They may be primitive, but that only makes it more dangerous. Besides, if you do know how to cure this then I need you to have as much chakra as possible. Stay here."

She sank back, even more frightened looking than before. He stepped back from the hollow and pulled his blade out once more. "If I don't come back by nightfall follow the river up stream till you come to the ruins of another base. If you can follow their tracks of the three ninja that were there and tell them. . ."

She looked up at him sadly.

"Tell them that they need to find my brother."

She nodded mutely.

A low grunt sounded again and Sasuke looked back. The phantoms were more defined now, human shapes rather than ghosts. He stepped back away from the hollow and gave Karin one last hard look, then rushed away. The creatures spotted him in an instant and one huge one grumbled some thing harsh and cold while pointing. Most of the mutants with it rushed forward, taking it's command.

Sasuke stood his ground at the base of a vine encrusted tree. Five of the mammoth half-men surrounded him. He swung out at one with his blade, cutting it's stomach open, while he kicked out at another, knocking it in to two others who were impaled buy their own weapons.

The other creature lifted a spear high while Sasuke recovered his stance. As it trust down he stepped to the side just fast enough not to be skewered through, but not fast enough to avoid the sharp stone tip all together. The speer sliced in to his outer thigh.

Sasuke growled in pain and thrust his blade up while the creature was still angled down, and caught it in the side. It howled before falling away limp.

More were coming.

Stepping back over the bodies he groped blindly for the vines. Seeing how he had cut down the first five the other mutants were more hesitant to charge. They growled and scratched at the bloodied dirt with their feet. Sasuke, his cropped blade held between him and the others, started to pull him self up. For a moment they held back, but the moment he swung to face the tree for a better climb they charged.

He pulled him self up quickly, wincing as the cut in his thigh burned. He glanced down, trying to determine what he ought to do next. They were slower to climb after him, each unsure as to what they should do now that they were organized. One grabbed another's leg in an attempt to get a better grip, and was rewarded with a bite to the shoulder.

A small fight broke out that rippled thorugh the others. There were not as many now as there had been the night before and the fight was taking the attention of most of them. The huge 'leader' started to scream and throw rocks.

Two more subdued ones took the chaos in stride and pressed through the brawling rabble.

Sasuke pulled him self on to a branch and prepared to swing to a different tree. Looking down again the world blurred for just a moment.

He was loosing a lot of blood.

He shook his head and held the vines tight. Just as the two neared him he shoved off and swung to the other tree. By now the leader was attacking his own forces, and the two that had followed him started to fight.

The whole mutant assault had dissolved in to a biting, screaming, animalistic, mess. Sasuke scanned the group for any who would come after him, but saw none. Growing just a little dizzy he slid down the tree and crept back to the hollow.

The moment Karin saw him she gasped. "Your leg." She whispered. "Let me." She reached out and touched the wound before he could stop her. She closed her eyes and sucked in a quick breath. For a moment she was silent, then tossed her head back and moaned. Her whole body trembled with the strain of using even more chakra.

"Stop." He barked quietly, but she was oblivious. Moments latter the gash faded from his leg, and reappeared on hers. She pulled away and slumped, gasping. "Karin?"

Slowly her head rolled and she looked up at him. "It's OK." The gash started to fade from her leg and she sighed. Still shaky she crawled forward on her knees, clearing the roots that made up the roof of the hollow. Sasuke held his hand out and helped her to her feet.

"We need to go., but you need to lead the way."

She took another breath and nodded. "OK. This way." She pulled him this time, her slim fingers curled around the thick of his hand. They crept past the fighting mutants and past the solid walls of the lab. Silently they walked till the mist started to thin and the jungle started to crawl.

Over roots and under vines they walked until once more Sasuke stood at the edge of the river.

"Up stream or down?" He asked.

"Do you know where the temple ruins are?"

He nodded. "I passed them to get here. Up stream. Is that where we need to go?"

"Yes but. . ." She brought her other hand up, her fingers skimming her lips in a small, nervous, gesture. "We don't have a boat."

Sasuke let go of her hand and stepped in to the water. "Then we'll swim to the other side and walk." He glanced back at her. "You can swim, right?"

She walked past him and waded in to her waist. "Yes." Taking a breath she dove in and darted towards the other shore, keeping under the surface.

Sasuke took his own breath and followed her. The water was hot, but here it was more clear. He could see the bottom where long grass grew and hundreds of fish in all colors swam to and fro. He cleared to the other side and surfaced with a gasp. Karin was crouched on a rock before him, reaching out for him. He reached up and took her offered hand.

She pulled him up with a little effort and then stepped back to wring out her hair. Here the jungle seemed less like a writhing mass of distruction and more like a natural world.

"This place feels different." He mumbled as he looked all around.

"That's because this isn't Sound country." She replied. "At least, not any more." She started to walk on. Glancing back she frowned. "Coming?"

"Yeah." As he followed her the trees were less broken and jumbled, there were fewer vines, and far more flowering plants. They started to climb a rocky aria where the river was fead by a watter fall.

Sasuke glanced behind him, back towards where the dark and oppressive realm of the Former Serpent Sanin still slithered over it's self. As far as he had known the Sand country had sprawled for miles and miles in every direction between the two mountain ranges. "When did this change to another country?" He asked.

"It's not." She climbed up to the peak of the rocks and stopped. "There was a fight here not long ago. The people repelled Lord Orochimaru's forces for five days and nights. The people who fought here were about to win when Lord Orochimaru captured a man and held him as a hostage." She moved on, stepping trough unruly ferns, but her voice drifted back down to him. "I was just a baby then. But those people were my people. That man was my father."

Sasuke started back up after her. "Your people?" He slid both hands between the ferns and spread them apart. Like a curtain being drawn open before a stage the ferns revealed a vast sprawling forest that was alive with color and sound. Small bower birds exploded from the trees on little lemon and sage wings, startled by his presence. He couldn't stop his jaw from opening just a little at the sheer contrast. It was night and day. He pulled his attention from the world before him and placed it back on the girl he needed to keep with him.

Karin was farther along the river now, her head bowed and her arms crossed over her chest. Softly she was crying again. "Father wanted to see this place again so badly but. . ."Her voice hitched and she swallowed. For a moment she looked as if she might cry again, but she lifted her head forcing her self to remain calm. "My people continued to fight, even after father was captured. Lord Orochimaru repelled each attack with ease. The survivors were scattered like chaff to the wind." Her head dipped and the tears started to gather in the corners of her eyes. "Now I'm completely alone." She slid her hand up to her eyes, hiding the new wash of grief. "I'd rather be dead than alone."

Sasuke stared at her for a moment before walking up to her hesitantly. He rubbed the back of his neck and took a slow breath in, unsure how he should act to get her moving forward again. They were still in danger here, even if this was not the jungle. "Your not alone, Karin." He said glancing over, hoping a sliver of reassurance would be enough to cajole her on.

She looked up, her eyes swimming in her sorrow. "I'm the last of my people. I _am_ alone."

"I mean, your not a lone person here." He said, trying to fill out the reassurance a little.

She looked at him with her brows drawing together before sniffing. "You lost all of your people too, didn't you?"

The question took him off guard. He'd only meant to press her on quickly, not try to relate to her. But as he stared in to her jade eyes he saw flickers of his own feelings. The feelings he'd buried years ago. "Yeah. It's just me and my brother now." He managed, not especially wishing to continue the conversation.

"So we are the same then." She said, her whole face softening once more.

He swallowed the desperate urge to grab her and drag her on again. "Yeah, sure. You're just like me."

She smiled just a little. "We had better keep going."

He nodded, glad she was moving forward again, and dropping the subject. This time as they walked on Sasuke felt the toll of the last two days starting to creep up on him. His shoulder was throbbing again and soon there was a small drip of blood rolling down his arm. A minute or two latter she glanced back to say some thing, but the words were cut off the instant her eyes spotted the blood.

"Oh, Sasuke. . ."

"Ignore it." He grunted. Reaching back he touched the aria around the seal and winced. "There is nothing you can do now."

She turned to face him and smoothed the wet hair from her eyes. "I can try to make it feel better." She reached out, but he stepped back.

"I said leave it." He brushed past her, but could not miss the look of disappointment in her eyes.

"Sorry."

He ignored her and continued on. In silence the continued to walk, mile after mile, with her trailing sullenly behind. Now and then he glanced back, making sure she was still following him. Each time he looked she was crying. Each time he had to force him self to ignore her. He didn't have time for sentimental empathy or sympathy.

Though, deep down, he knew exactly how she had to be feeling now. He could recall a time when, even though he was safe in his own land, with people he know wouldn't hurt him, there was nothing but pain. Slowly, as he made his way further along the river, her plaintive sniffles and little weeping sounds, brought up more and more memories of his own past.

The sun was starting to lower it's self towards the horizon, painting the sky a vivid rainbow of warm colors, when he could take it no longer. Turning he cleared his throat. "Karin. . ."

She looked up at him, her eyes still wet, then looked past him. "Oh, I didn't even notice"

He turned to look at what she was seeing and saw, rising up above the trees, the grand spread of the temple. She had distracted him so much he hadn't noticed either. He rubbed his shoulder again. "You need to watch where you are going." He grunted, covering up his own lack of attention.

"Sorry."

"There are still escaped experiments out there, and Orochimaru's servants and the like." He added as he gazed up at the old vine encrusted building.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke."

"Lets just go." He moved on, not even knowing what he really wanted to say to start with. Besides that he was right, there were still enemy out there. Just because they were in a part of land where Orochimaru had no longer invested his interest, didn't mean his creations would feel the need to stay away.

Small fire flies started to dance in the muggy evening air as they approached the stones. Karin passed him with a number of the little glow bugs resting in her still slightly damp hair. Though no longer crying she was hugging her self. Her whole face seemed to express a numb sort of shock. She was functioning, but at a level fit for survival only.

Sasuke paused, mid stride, and rubbed the back of his neck again. Echoes of long ago reverberated through him. The day after the attack on his clan he'd been wandering the bloodied streets, looking for any one who might have still been there, but not finding any one.

Looking back at Karin he knew exactly what she was feeling.

He hadn't wandered long, however, before a tall, strong, ANBU with silver hair and a wolf's mask had found him. Kakashi. He blinked at the memory. At the time he hadn't know who the ANBU was, and by the time he was part of team seven he had forgotten all about it. His mind had only been able to focus on the attack it's self, and Itachi's horrific visions.

But now, looking back, he remembered just how relived he had felt when the Copy Cat Ninja had pulled him away from it all.

"Karin?" He stepped up to where she was standing on one of the steps that lead up to a still solid looking landing above the watter. Ribbons of light were starting to dance up on to the walls. "Karin look at me."

She sniffled and turned around. "Hmm?"

"Look. . . I know that. . ." The water exploded all around them, drowning his sentence and throwing them both in to the air. Karin screamed.

Sasuke crossed his arms in an instinctive block as his back slammed in to the stone. His shoulder flared in to instant agony and stars burst in to his vision. He gasped in pain, but his mouth filled with water. He choked and scrambled to reach the surface, but the more he fought, the more the water pulled him down.

His chest burned for air as a murky creature with human limbs and cold dark eyes loomed before him in the wave. Sasuke grabbed his sword and ripped it from it's keep even as he felt the pull of unconsciousness at the back of his senses. The figure glanced at the blade, then grinned with a hundred pointed shark teeth. Sasuke drew back against the stone before kicking off, his blade aimed for the water mutant, but the water snapped solid around his feet, like a massive hand, and pulled him back down. The fair haired creature snatched the blade up and looked it over, his expression suddenly going soft.

Sasuke's vision started to darken and his chest heaved for air once more. The mutant's eyes suddenly went wide.

"Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke only had a moment to wonder how he could hear under the water like this, before the darkness took him once more.


	23. Home Again

Not part three of Black Ice, no, but I think you guys will be OK with that. This is a very long chapter that I even cut short. I had maybe another BAZILLION pages I could have added, but my writer's gut told me to snip it when and where I did, so. . .

I_** may**_ enter the writing contest NaNoWriMo, so if you don't here from me for a full month you'll know why. Though the harsh reality is I probably won't make it two days. XD

Any way, long chapter is long-ish, though I could have done more. My OCs are back in the Hokage tower, and they bring me much joy to play with, and also in this chapter. . . well, just go read it!

Please leave comments about what you think. . . I don't know if I can answer them all, but I will try. They mean a lot to me! Any way, Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 20: Home Again**

_To my dear friend and lord, Hokage Saratobi._

_I am perplexed by your resent withdrawal from our committee. It is you who, having superior knowledge and ability, possesses the key to the process we have all agreed upon. Have we not collected the nine fragments? Has Minato him self not agreed to partake in yet more attempts to authenticate the perdition that Lord Jiraya him self has made in regards to the means in which we may posses peace?_

_Please expound to me the exact reason you have withdrawn your support of our experiments. I wish to know your reasoning for abandoning the act of obtaining the world's most powerful weapon._

_A letter from Danzo, your loyal servant, and patient friend. _

…...

Tsunade shifted under the heavy warm weight of a large arm draped over her. She blinked back the sleep from her eyes and cleared her vision of her hair. Next to her, tangled hopelessly in a bundle of over sized flannel pajamas and expensive fine sheets, Jiraya was mostly curled up in on him self.. She smiled just a little and reached out to touch his cheek. Reaching out to connect with her guardian.

Vaguely she remembered him guiding her back to her place and making sure she was both fed, and then tucked in for the night, before settling down in the guest room him self. Alone in the dark she fought to calm her racing mind, but it had been impossible. Tears fell with out consent. Her fingers would not stop twisting the gem that hung from her neck.

Guilt washed over her again and again, drowning her, and dredging up ghosts from the murky depths of her mind. Smiling eyes and happy decelerations of power and protection. All dashed cruelly against the rocks.

She finally freed her self from her comforter and walked over the cold hardwood boards till she stood before the guest room door. It was open half way, the room spread before her was dark save for one lamp. In it's warm scarlet light Jiraya was thumbing through the pages of his latest project. Red swells of editor's ink sprawled over the pages.

Blood before the final wounds.

It was her fault.

When he looked up at her his expression was a reflection of her ache. Quietly he reached his hand out, beaconing her to enter. She accepted the invention and sat at the end of the bed, tucking her legs up under her.

"What do we do?"

He didn't know.

Needing comfort she slid forward and curled up next to him. In silence they sat like that, missing, mourning, before he turned out the light and told her to sleep.

Now as she traced the marks down his cheeks he shifted and opened his eyes.

"Hey."

He shifted and pulled his arm back. "Hi."

She held still for a moment longer, before pulling away. "Thank you." She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. "I. . . I don't know what I would have done. . ."

"We are still a team." He said softly. "We work together. In love or war."

She smiled a little, sadly. "In war. We'll never stop fighting, will we?"

He sat up and sighed. "Not as Shinobi."

She drew her self up and moved towards the door. The cold of the wood under her feet almost hurt. "Still, what you did yesterday. . ." She drew her arms over her chest and leaned against the door frame. "I want you with me from here on out. I need you, clearly I need you. I need you more than the Village needs me."

When he didn't respond she turned around. He was holding his book open, his eyes rolling over the red ink scrawl again. He looked older, some how, the lines of his face etched in so much deeper than they had been the day before. He was in pain, and drowning in guilt.

She reached up and touched her crystal. It wasn't his fault. It was hers and hers alone. Frowning deeply she stepped back up to him and pulled her gem from her neck. "Lets put these things aside, for now." Gently she took the book from his hand and, with the gem, stepped back.

"If we put them aside we might not take them up again." He argued. "We could be attacked at any moment, you know." He straightened up a little on the bed. "We both know how quickly Orochimaru is to act when he thinks he's been given an advantage."

"They'll only distract us." She looked down at the two objects in her hands. "Naruto. . . I failed him before, but I won't let that consume me. I'll protect his city. I won't let his ghost haunt me until I have time to mourn. Then maybe I'll never put this down. But until then. . ."

He stood and stepped up to her. "Very well, until the end, then."

"Until the end."

…...

"Iruka?"

Iruka opened his tired eyes to look up in to the pale moonlight face of the Hokage's aid. "Hn?"

"Have you slept at all?"

He took a breath in and gazed at her. She had been hovering bear him since the moment they had entered her house. She had made a place for him on her couch and, while she had promised to go and sleep in her own room, she had not left his side long enough to even make tea. The question, to his addled brain, was insane. How could he sleep with her breathing down his neck?

He continued to stare at her, unblinking, hopping she would leave him to him self. He still had the pills close by. He only needed a few minutes alone.

That was why she was hovering, he decided, and turned his gaze away. "No."

"I know I'm probably being a mother hen, here, but I really am here to help." She was on a chair that squeaked when ever she moved. "Your student's have got to be missing you."

"I'm very tired, Lady Shizune." He shifted, letting his gaze return to her slightly.

"I know." She said softly. "But you know its my job too. . ."

"Talking will not help me sleep." He all but growled, to exhausted to care if it sounded rude or not.

"I'm sorry." She moved a bit, causing the chair to squeal like a stuck pig, before going on. "I want you to know that there are a lot of people who care very deeply for you."

"The one person that matters the most, Lady Shizune, is gone." He closed his eyes and sucked the air in. It smelled sweet in her house, like cut flowers and perfumed cleaners, but the smell burned a bit. It was difficult to breath here.

The chair squeaked some more, like it was having a one sided conversation with it's self. It's high pitched voice trilling and rambling in an almost frantic manner. Though subdued Shizune's chakra was flowing all over in a thick, restless, mat of tangled emotions. It mingled with the suffocating smells and grating sounds making the whole room almost unbearable.

"You know, you still have people who need you."

He squelched the urge to sigh. "But I'm not teaching now." He opened his eyes and gazed up at the strong beams holding up the roof. Dark wood against white ceiling. "I'm just. . ."

The chair's chatter stopped mid squeak. The whole room hung about him. Waiting.

"The Paper Work Ninja." And that was it. There was no fight left in him. The whole village could rot for all he cared. Tsunade had sent his sunshine away, and now, like the room closing in on him, there was only ever going to be darkness.

Silence hung like tapestry, cutting him off from the rest of the world. It was interrupted sharply when Shizune sighed roughly. "You'll feel better when you have had some sleep." She stood making the chair nearly scream, as if in protest. She lingered near him, waiting for him to say some thing in response. But he held his tongue. There was nothing to say.

She turned and left him. The chair rocked back and forth slowly, like a lonely child, for a minute before finally falling still.

He sat up, the pills still in his hands. There was no reason to hope that the world would be right again. He opened the little white container and shook out a sizable amount of the little gray blue pills. For a moment he gazed at them, feeling a small wash of some thing flow over him. It may have been the feeling of peace. The nightmare would be over...

But it wasn't.

A strong hand gripped his wrist. Looking up he gazed in to the steady blue rimmed brown eyes of Fuka.

"You may be spineless, Iruka, but I never thought you were the coward you are proving to be."

Iruka looked back down at the pills in his hand. "Am I a coward, for fighting to protect my village?"

Fuka twisted Iruka's wrist until the pills had all slid back in to the bottle. "There is some thing you need to understand." He then pried the bottle free of Iruka's other hand and set it aside. "The village's continued survival _is_ my mission. And just because _he_ is gone, doesn't mean the people here should suffer the same fate he has."

Iruka glared. "They can burn for all I care. The Hokage... she sent him on that mission. She sent him knowing some thing was wrong." The words burned, butter in his throat.

"She is unfit to lead." Fuka's dry, sad, smile appeared.

"She is unfit to walk this earth." Iruka spat, the anger flaring dangerously high. "But the whole village will follow her, like lambs to the slaughter!"

"Then we agree on at least some thing." The smile lifted just a little. Letting Iruka go Fuka brought his hands together into a sign.

"What are you going to do?" Iruka looked up, the inside of his eyes ringed with blue. Misery radiated off of him, and grief. Like a sucking void and all of the light in the room was being pulled in and destroyed.

Fuka's lips parted in to an insipid half grin. "Go to work, push parer around, kill people. The usual ninja fair."

Iruka stiffened on the over stuffed couch as worry bubbled up. "What people? Who?"

The grin turned in to a full smile. "The ones who stand in the way. Now, as for you . . . _Release_."

Iruka vanished in a puff of smoke and mist, his being pulled back in to the depths of Fuka's mind. Almost instantly the dark, all consuming, void of grief washed through Fuka. He sucked in his breath and grit his teeth. Slowly he sank to the couch and rested his head in the palm of his hands. With much effort he pressed Iruka as far back as he could and locked him away. The effort expended on the endeavor left Fuka shaking just a little. Slowly drawing a breath in he lifted his head just enough to set his chin on one hand.

Foot steps sounded from the other side of the room and he looked up. Shizune was standing in a snowy white nightgown, her face tinted red and tears rolling down her cheeks. "Iruka? I thought I heard you talking. . ."

"It was just a nightmare."

"Maybe you should take one of those pills."

He sat up straighter and turned towards her. "I think I'll be able to sleep now. I seem to have. . . settled."

She stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Good night."

He nodded towards her. "Thank you, but I doubt it will be."

…...

The hospital looked even more bleak than Guy remembered. It's little windows gave off a thin cold yellow light in the dark, making it look like a hungry predictor that swallowed up the weak and helpless. The impression was not helped by the fact that the last time he had been there he had been with his poor, wonderful, wounded Neji. Guilt and fear and anger and all manner of regrets washed over him again and again, like waves in an angry roaring sea. Before all of this he had been an island, a rock and a pillar of strength. Now he felt like he was crumbling. Time had taken it's tole. He felt old.

So old.

"Guy?" Asuma asked.

Guy turned and gave Asuma a despondent look. "Hmm?"

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, back there. I know you are not a girl. . . But. . ."

"Your passion overcame you, Asuma. A man must embrace his passion." It was frightening to hear how weary his own voice had become just now. "I will not fault you for your feelings."

They were approaching the door and to Guy it was a thin, hungry mouth. The weak DID enter here, and some of them never left alive. He shivered, frightened by the memories of Neji languishing in pain on his bed. And he shivered in anticipation of seeing Kakashi.

A very small part of him wanted to turn tail and run. 'Coward, I have become a coward.' He mused darkly. The Green Beast of Konoha had never wanted to run before and it hurt to the core to think he was even capable of such a thing now.

Asuma opened the door and waited for him to pass. He entered, feeling like he was being swallowed alive. At least he wasn't alone.

"I'm going to look and see if they will tell me if Kurenai was here." Asuma said as he let the door shut behind him.

Guy swallowed and nodded. He was alone, then, to face the nightmares that had become a reality in Kakashi's eyes. "G-good luck."

"You too." Asuma turned at that point and walked away, his hands crammed in to his pockets, his head down.

Guy sucked in a slow breath and walked his own way towards the stairs. He tried to brace him self, mentally, for what ever he would encounter. He'd been there when the Fourth had died and at that time Kakashi had drawn in to him self so far and become so disinterested in the world around him, that he wouldn't or couldn't eat or sleep. Guy had at first given him space to mourn, but when it was obvious he wasn't making any progress Guy recalled being overwhelmed with sympathy and the need to help. His first efforts were met with violence. Kakashi had literally thrown him out of his apartment and consequently into a wall across the street.

The Green Beast had not been detoured in the least. Instead he vowed to reach the other man any way he could! He'd struck a pose then and yelled at the top of his lungs that no matter what Kakashi would understand that he wasn't alone and he hadn't lost every one. Guy shouted that there would always be love between them, even if it was one sided. The Kunai that was thrown at him then told him that, at that point, it was very one sided.

He hadn't given up and every day for nearly a year he worked as hard as he could to pull the other ninja from his ache. Asuma, in his own way, started to work on him, challenging him to mind games, and Kurenai brought him things to eat. Eventually the Third had stepped in, after two straight months of Guy demanding he do so, and told Kakashi that to reject the light was the same as embracing death willingly.

That it was the same as killing your self.

The next morning when Guy knocked Kakashi opened the door. Guy had instinctively drawn back, covering his face and head, ready for a blow that would probably hurt, but when nothing had happened he looked and saw Kakashi had with drawn back in to the apartment, leaving the door open to a cold dark apartment.

Even after that day it still took months of work and hope and determination, but then, on one wonderful, GLORIOUS, spring day, Kakashi had laughed. It was like rain falling in the sunshine. Like the waving of leaves under the bright evening stars. It was like life had finally returned.

Kakashi has stepped back in to the light.

Guy passed one of the hospital's windows and looked out. It was so very dark out side right now. Darkest before dawn. He shivered again. Maybe by dawn, if he worked as hard as he could, hope would return.

Naruto. . . he had been such a bright light in the village.

Guy stepped up to the door and knocked, bracing him self for the darkness that would surely be swallowing Kakashi whole. To his surprise the door opened soundlessly and there was no one in side.

Fear swelled anew as his thoughts rolled back to how weak Neji had been. Near death. . .

Death. If you shun the light it was the same as suicide.

Guy turned, his heart suddenly thundering under his ribs, terror. He ran, headed for the front desk, headless of who or what was in front of him. He passed the window, then the door, at a brake neck speed. He nearly slammed in to Asuma, who was looking through a roster of names. The other ninja jumped back, skill and experience kicking in in an an instant.

"Guy!"

"He's not here!" He wailed, his voice carrying all of the dread he felt.

"Maybe he was let out." Asuma said reasonably, standing down from his startled defense position.

Guy shook his head violently. "N-No! He was so. . . and now. . ." Tears erupted and he had to screw his eyes shut and hold his breath just to keep him self from loosing it entirely. "He could be dead."

He couldn't see Asuma, but he heard pages turning quickly. "No... No I have his name here. He left with. . . ANBU." The last word drew out slowly, hollow sounding. "ANBU." He said again, a touch of fear in his own voice.

Guy took a shaking breath as his eyes snapped open. "No."

He felt Asuma's hand land on his shoulder. "There's nothing you can do Guy. You have your own problems, you can't take this on to."

Guy looked up and felt his lower lip tremble. "I have to, Asuma, he's my friend and I _love him_." The tears were drying again as a flicker of resolve formed in his chest.

"I know but. . ."

"I have to find him, just like you have to find Kurenai!" He clenched his fist.

"Not quite the same thing. . ." Asuma pulled his hand back. "But still, if he's with the Anbu then maybe he'll be OK."

"You don't understand. They'll brake him down so far there won't be any thing left this time. His body will still be here but Kakashi will be gone!" He felt his fingernails digging in to the palms of his hands. "I can't let him do that to him self!"

"You can't stop it."

Guy scowled. "Maybe not, but I will die trying!" he turned towards the door before he could change his mind and started to walk.

"Guy, this is insanity, even for you." Asuma called after him. "The ANBU save his sanity last time."

"No, they didn't." Guy ground through his teeth. "I had to fight them every step of the way." He tore the door open and stormed out. No... _Earthquaked_ out. He tried to understand what feelings, what passion was driving him now, but he couldn't He was enraged, yes, and terrified, and his spirits were crushed. Devastated. All of it, and some how, none of it. He wasn't crying, or screaming. He couldn't now.

He had to reach him. Because he knew where he would be. The dark place. It wasn't just a symbolic phrase, it was a real place. A dark, crawling, ANBU lair. His feat started to run.

The humans there had lost what ever sanity they had had left. They were all in various states of tare down and build up. If Kakashi had been taken there. . . Guy banished the thought. He was on the roof tops now and if it were possible the sky was even darker.

He'd been there once, and only once, for the very same reason. He'd pulled Kakashi out of there, lead by the hand. The other ninja had followed like a numb and dumbstruck lamb in wolf's clothing.

He reached the gaping, all consuming, hole in the ground that was the lair's entrance, and _earthquaked_ in. Startled half sane ninja darted back, their orders to hold off killing any who entered. Whines and cries followed him as he wound his way through the labyrinth. Masks bobbed and rushed and scurried in the dark. He ignored them. None of them was in the shape of a wolf. None of them held his lamb.

Just as he was nearing the center of the horrible pit of lost souls a hand shot out and slammed in to his stomach. He cried out in sudden pain. One of the clinically sane ones, the meritorious shepherds, had found him.

"I'm here for Kakashi!" He managed through his teeth. Looking up he saw the white faxe of an OX staring down at him.

"He's been here and gone, Might Guy. While I understand your wish to keep him from the ANBU You are to late. He's gone to the deep place. If you would like you may find Wolf on assignment at the wall's main towers. He's on gate duty for the rest of this month."

Guy blinked, still in pain from the blow, and stifled a groan. To late. The deep place. That was the kindest term the ANBU could come up with for 'He's now been reprogrammed and is now a killing machine'. But still... "Gate duty? ANBU do not guard the gate." Maybe there was yet hope. Such an easy task was for low ranking ninja. NEVER an ANBU.

"Hokage's orders. She does not yet think him well enough to take on other missions. And I agree. He is not yet fully recovered from his physical ailments."

Guy's heart sank. If Tsunade knew, and condoned the shift back to ANBU, then there really was nothing he could do. "No. . ."

"You should go now." Ox said in an almost kind voice.

"Stop." Some one called slowly. "He's wanted."

Guy looked up and spotted the ANBU Jackal. The long black hair gave him away as a Hyuga instantly. Guy scrambled to his feet and backed away. "I've done nothing wrong."

Jackal pulled out a knife and let it dangle at his side. With his eyes down cast he walked slowly closer. "They all say that. They all do, yes. But. . ." He looked up. "It is not for me to know if you are innocent." He stepped up to Guy. "You know better than to resist, right now, right?"

Guy glanced around at all of the masks facing him. They had orders not to kill, but to capture would be a quick sport for them. "I will go willingly."

Ox sighed. "I am sorry things turned out this way, Might Guy. Best of luck."

Guy swallowed another round of tears as he was turned, cuffed, and lead back towards the street.

…...

Wolf climbed up the steep steps to the hollow place above the gate of the village. He slid the porcelain mask off and then slid the head band up to expose his gifted. . . no. . . his _other_ eye. He had little strands of Chakra now, thin, but at the ready. It would take time, but eventually he would have his fighting prowess back.

He searched the land, taking in every person he could spot. None posed a threat. No one was from sound.

His orders were simple, but clear. Watch for the enemy, Orochimaru would attack. Watch for Sound ninja. Alert the lower guards, then stand down.

It was logical that he should be selected for this mission. With his other eye he could spot the enemy long before any one else, including a Hyuga.

Minutes ticked by in deathly silence. It was very, very dark out at the moment. He slid the head band back down to rest for a moment. The thin strands of Chakra were not much, he couldn't use it all up in one stretch.

More minutes drifted in and out of the small look out space built in to the wall. The silence was numbing. His heart, thumping dully under his still sore ribs, skipped a beat here and there. He was tired, but he'd been more tired before. He didn't feel any thing. Nothing. Little fragments of memory were trying to enter his mind as the stillness dulled it even more.

He pushed them away as best as he could. He didn't have to think about them now. Latter when. . . when what?

No. He would not remember. He refused to remember the students. . . his heart skipped again, but then pounded wildly for a moment.

He tore the head band back up with a soft snort and looked around again. Nothing to report. He let it slip back down.

A little part of him wanted to be out doing some thing else. Killing some one, that sounded good. He ached to see blood. While he was expecting Orochimaru or the Sanin's sound ninja he had no idea when they would show up. It could be weeks. Some how he doubted he could hold off the craving for. . .

Revenge?

He banished the thought and shoved the craving back. No. . . any one who endangered the people were his target. He would only engage them when he was ordered to. Till then he would. . .

Would what? He had to rebuild his body, but that only took up so much time each day. Confined to the city there would be no extended missions to occupy him.

He was done with story books. He doubted he would even read the new one.

_Sitting up carefully he looked over to the other bed. Half sitting, half slumped over, Naruto was holding _Come Come Paradise_ in one hand, a red pen in the other. Kakashi watched him as he started to nod off, before shaking him self awake. He had dark rings under his eyes and a pale cast to his face._

_"Oi, Pervy sage..." He mumbled. "Stop starting your sentences with freaking prepositions!" He attacked the page with the red pen._

_For a moment three feelings crashed through Kakashi's mind. The first was a touch of panic that Naruto was not only reading, but MARKING his book, it passed when he saw the cover was new and glossy- obviously not his. _

_. . .He lifted the pen off the paper and shut the book with a sudden broad grin. "Kakashi Sensei! You're awake!"_

Wolf shook the memory out of his head, but could not stop the sudden painful twist his stomach launched it's self in to. The feeling took his breath away and left the room spinning for a horrible, nauseating, minute. To make it all the more uncomfortable his heart had started to pound wildly again, and showed no signs of slowing down.

"He's gone." Wolf growled harshly. "They are both gone." He couldn't stop the vivid flashes of pink hair and an adorable smile from flickering in to his mind. He'd neglected her, Sakura, while Naruto had been gone. They met causally on the street, and once he had treated her to lunch on her birthday. But that had been it. The rest of the time he'd ignored her and neglected to train her. Tsunade was teaching her, he had thought, she was getting the best.

But it hadn't been enough. His chest burned with wild heart beats and rising bile. He slumped a little and braced him self against the wall, willing the spinning to stop, and, slowly, as he tucked the memories back in to their graves, the spinning did stop.

He took several shaking hot breaths and stared at his black clad arms and white, steel plated, vest. His arm guards shown in the dark as the light tried to find a way to him. The ANBU garb reflected the light, however, and tossed it back out in to the night.

He wanted to toss hes memories out with it. Then he could work undisturbed. He would not be haunted by ghosts like so many others had been. It wasn't his job to remember them. It was his job to. . . to. . .

_"You must understand some thing as well. You belong to the future generation. It's my job too. . ."_

_He started to shake his head 'no'. "It's not!"_

_"It is." He let the hands go and Naruto pulled back, frowning deeply. "I promised I would protect you. But don't think it's just you. I'd do the very same thing for Sakura. For any one from the village."_

His throat burned but her refused to let it distract him. He swallows and stood, rocking on his heals for a moment, before he took a long, slow breath. They were gone. _ Gone_. He wasn't protecting any thing. He never could in the first place. All of them were gone now.

Refocusing he forced him self back to his task. He was to scan for Sound Ninja, report, the stand down. That was his mission. His mission must be his life. Between missions. . .

Be tween them, in the lonely dark hours, he would seek the ANBU psyche conditioning training he had received so many times in his younger years. The experts would be able to seal up the memories. They had done so in the past, and it was becoming a more and more common practice. When the memories interfered with missions it was a very real option to seal them back, to forget. Not the actions or the faces or the names, but the _feelings_ that went with them. The feelings could be locked so far back he'd never have to deal with them again.

He could live numb, for the rest of his life. Emotionless. The Animal Wolf. Killer. Machine. Death computer. Logic and blood would be his proclivity. A mechanical beast only restrained by the leash held by his mission scrolls.

The thundering heart beat slowed a little, and the spinning almost stopped. Kakashi's team was gone and, Wolf knew, he had a way to kill of Kakashi him self.

No more ghosts. No more feelings. No more pain.

…...

"Because I said so." Sakura's by now dry, sarcastic, irritated voice hit Naruto like a slap.

He rubbed his face and sighed, wishing she would hold her tongue for just a minute.

Sai's voice, just as dry, but deliberately void of any notable sarcasm or any other emotion for that matter, sounded out just after hers. "That doesn't make any practical scene."

Naruto glanced back at his companions wearily. Dressed in the sound Ninja uniforms, dirty as a dog in the mud, and glaring, they both looked like thugs. The current argument was on the topic of Raman, of all things.

The more they argued the more pronounced Sakura's agitated grating voice became. Some of her words drawled, while others almost struck sharp. She had abandoned physical violence a while ago when Sai simply refused to give up picking her brain under threat. Now they had fallen in to a sort of verbal sparing that used way to many big words and not enough scene for Naruto to even want to follow. But when the subject of Raman came up he could not help but to listen.

He was an unofficial expert in the subject, after all.

"Look, if you boil the noodles for that long all you'll end up with is mush." Sakura said. Her arms were folded over her chest and her eyes were focused on the rode in front of her. It puzzled Naruto who, from all of his own personal experiences, knew when she fought she liked to look right in to your eyes and try to scare you witless.

Sai had no fear, apparently. Possibly no emotions at all, from the way his voice was void of ANY inflection. He sounded like a robot.

"I am merely stating that your idea of a 'perfect' boiling time is not a universal constant. Human beings are highly irregular and each likes things differently from one another. A preference of many in the north is to boil the raman for ten point three minutes, on average."

"Then they are all mush eating, uneducated, savages." She growled, unable to win the argument.

Naruto refocused on the rode ahead so that she couldn't see his smirk. Very few people could out fight her and not get a fist in the face. It just had to take an ANBU agent to do it, though.

"Savages, Hanaro-san, are according to the data I have studied, incapable of concocting meals from complex carbohydrates and ground chicken meal, as our more civilized populations does. However I am also dismayed that in this country, when the inhabitance have sufficient knowledge to acquire proper nutrition, they turn increasingly to these complex carbohydrates for sustenance." Sai said in one long, flat, toneless monologue. The words sent Naruto's head to spinning and that made his already infected guts ache. With such a long, boring, line of words, Naruto wondered if Sakura really would hit him this time, or even if she understood.

"Naturally Sai," she said, understanding perfectly, much to Naruto's dismay, "You couldn't understand the simple pleasure of a good tasting meal. I doubt you know what a good pleasure really is. All of that training and stoic mission taking has warped you people." She huffed and her steps became a little heaver, as if she was marching. "Besides, most of us on this team do know how to teat Raman appropriately."

Naruto stopped in his tracks, knowing his mind could not begin to unravel most of what had been run though t it, with out his consent none the less, but he knew and accusation when he heard one. He turned on his heal and faced the medical miracle worker who was so dirty her hair actually looked like it was brown rather than pink. "What?"

Both she and Sai, who up till now had taken opposing sides on every topic from the possible size of fish in the ocean, to the color of child's crayons, were now uniformly looking at him. While Sakur'as face was flush under the stars and held a lot of agitated combative vibrancy Sai's face was as flat and inexpressive as the Mask he'd be donning on a real ANBU mission.

"I Hanaro-san believes your excessive consumption of complex carbohydrates may be harmful, if not eventually detrimental, to your health, Naruto."

Because Naruto was very tired, and also because Sai's voice did not in any way reflect the accusatory tone that Sakura's had, and because most of those words were beyond him, he asked once more. "What?"

"You eat to damn much raman." Sakura replied, dragging the words along tiredly as one would drag a stick through mud.

"I do _not_." He retorted.

"Yes you do." Her eyes narrowed. "All you eat is comfort food. And what ever fresh vegetation Kakashi can convince you to eat. I STILL don't know how he manages that." Her head turned and now she was looking at Sai. "Really, Sai, if it weren't for Sensei Naruto would probably look like one of the Choza clan members."

"I would not!" Naruto snapped.

"Would too." Sakura tossed lazily to him, not even bothering to look at him. It was as if this argument, after all of that word tossing she had done with Sai, was to boring for her. Naruto felt stung at that thought, and just a touch worried. Sai was smarter than he was and, in a needy, jealous way, it frightened him that now Sakura wouldn't even fight with him any more.

"I eat more than compact food." He argued.

"Comfort food." Sakura corrected. "Food that sooths for a time but bites you back in the end." Her tone was all to soft, all to patient. Like she was talking to a slow child. Which, he admitted to him self, he had been. But he was older and it was still insulting to his worn out scenes.

Feeling snubbed, and more than a little stressed out after all of the resent events, he spoke before he could rightly think his words through. "Well some times I need some comfort, you know? It's not _EASY_ being me." The words came out with more force and more bite than he had intended, Sakura blinked, looking a little shocked. He glared, now unsure if this was supposed to be an argument or not. She had been arguing with Sai, he was sure of at least that much.

"Well, I'm not saying it isn't." She offered, seemingly trying to sooth.

Instead of soothing it only added to the grating that was happening on his nerves. "Well good, because. . . because when you have a monster in your stomach, that messes with your head, and makes you want to kill people then you see what comfort you can find." He felt a little of the tightly controlled stress start to ooze out. "Because no one in the village seems to want to help me." The moment he said it he knew it wasn't true. He added, quickly, "Except for Kakashi." A heart sick, home sick, feeling bubbled up and he whirled around on his heal, not wishing to delay returning home any longer.

"Naruto." Sakura said, her voice soft. "I only meant you eat to much raman not that your not. . ." But she stopped. He walked on, but listened to see what she would say. "Not. . . You know, you didn't ask for. . ."

"You are not to blame." Sai finished for her. Oddly, even though the tone was lifeless, and the words were not from the one person he thought he needed them from, they soothed.

He stopped walking again and sighed. "I know that but I don't feel that, you know?" He looked back, hopeful that one of them understood. Sai frowned just a little.

"I do not understand your feelings." He replied. "But I do know that they must cause you much distress."

Naruto smiled a little. "Yeah they. . ." A low hollow moan interrupted and he turned to look around. "You guys hear that?"

Sakura stepped up to him and looked around as well. "I did."

The moan drifted eerily over them again, long and low, like some one was about to die. Naruto shivered. "IS SOME ONE OUT THERE?" He called. Silence met them for a moment before he saw a figure staggering from the bushes. He squinted in the dark, making out that it wasn't a human, but a rather large dog. "Over there." He pointed.

Sai stepped up on his other side and frowned. "It's wounded."

They watched as the animal staggered closer. It moaned again. Now Naruto could see blood gushing out of two wounds. A Kunai was sticking out of it's side. "It's been attacked." He breathed quietly. "Get behind me, stay alert." He added as he started to move forward.

"How come you get to be in charge?" Sakura demanded in a quiet hiss.

Naruto scrambled for a quick answer. "Sai is new to the team and you are a medic."

Sakura didn't argue, so he continued to move towards the dog. By now he could see it more clearly. It had large floppy hears and a very familiar muzzle. Realization dawned slowly on him as he recognized the beast. "Akamaru?"

The Dog growled and took a lurching step forward, fangs bared.

"Easy, stay still, we'll try to help you!" Naruto lifted his hands, hoping it would calm the dog. Instead the animal growled again and charged. Naruto braced for the impact but, just before it made contact, it vanished, mid air, with out a trace.

He blinked, a roll of cold, COLD, fear tracing his spine. "G-gh-gh."

"Naruto?" Sakura asked. "Was it a clone?"

"Ghost." He whimpered.

"What?" She asked.

"_**GHOST DOG**_!" The scream ripped it's was from his throat and his knees turned to jelly. Sakura was instantly at his side, shaking.

"No such thing as ghosts!" She snapped, but leaned in to him with wild frightened eyes.

Sai continued to stand where he was, face tight, weapon drawn. "Technically correct." He said. "How ever .considering that Chakra can, and some times will . ." Before he could finish, in the space between Naruto and Sakura, and Sai him self, the form of a man with a wide brimmed had started to take shape.

Naruto sank to the ground as his mind snapped on to the identity of this phantom. "The _Third_." His legs suddenly found power again and he _**RAN**_.

Sakura was right with him, her eyes wider than he had ever seen them before. Sai was no where he could detect, but at the moment he didn't care. ANBU could fight ghosts, right? He didn't know.

Then, with a slosh of ink, and a puff of smoke, Sai appeared before them. "STOP!" He held up his hand and Naruto stumbled to the ground. Sakura skidded to a halt next to him.

There was a silent moment where no one moved, then Sai began to speak. Naruto's mind, spinning with a new wash of Raccoon terror, was suddenly flooded with searing pain from his stomach. He doubled over and grunted, not wishing to cry out and give away their positions.

He sat like that, in agony, for a long time, aware only of his pain. Then, gently, a cold hand traced the back of his neck. He expected it was Sakura, but when he opened his eyes he saw her in front of him getting out some more medical supplies.

Sai. Even with all of that inhuman ANBU training he was still able to show compassion. As his hand slowly rubbed and stroked, cooled and comforted, Naruto relaxed. Sakura came up to him with a needle and slid her hand between his arms and his stomach.

"Lean back."

He didn't question her.

She opened up his vest and through the cat suit stuck the needle in to his stomach. He grunted at the surge of pain that caused, but then sighed as the contents of the shot soothed.

"That'll burn through in about five minutes, Naruto, so we have to get to the village before then or you;ll end up just like this again. I don;t know it it will work twice."

He nodded and, with Sai's help, stood. Sai looked him over, his face still void of much feeling, but his eyes were soft.

Naruto smiled at him in gratitude. "Thank you."

Once more, looking away, Sakura replied. "You are welcome."

Exhaustion swelled up, but Naruto held firm. He staggered forward a little rubbing his hot and slightly swollen stomach, and saw in the distance the straight, sharp edge, of Konoha's walls. He let some of his weariness slip over him then. It wasn't a long distance, very easy to reach in five minutes, but it was still a long way to walk feeling like he did.

It made it better, however, to see that the sky was finally starting to lighten up. The sun would be peeking over the horizon by the time he entered the village. A new dawn. A new light.

Kakashi and food that wasn't fish or snake waited for him.

And maybe, just maybe, not even Raman. It would disappoint Kakashi, after all, if all he ever ate was junk and the flesh of his enemies. The thought of his mouth full of Sanin made him shiver.

"Naruto?" Sai asked, offering a sportive shoulder. Smiling, Naruto waved him on. "I think I'll be OK now. I really do." He took one step forward, then another. "Lets go home."

…...

Tsunade fingered through her small stack of orders and mission statements one last time. They were perfect. Trying not to glare she looked at all of the animals and humans assembled in her office. They were perfect. The sun was coming up and a new day was dawning. It would be very far from perfect.

"I want these delivered to every team that has been sent out. Excluding emergency medical reasons you are not to stop until you have delivered every last one to ever last team."

She held the stack out and one by one the papers were taken from her hands. Each being took care not to cause her a paper cut and each one nodded in a quiet bow of respect. The last of the summons, a pudgy frog with yellow skin and blue dots hesitated before taking his paper.

"Lady Tsunade?"

"Yes?" She asked.

"Will there be a service for Naruto?"

She blinked. Normally animals had no true grief rituals other than personal mourning. Those that did acknowledge human rituals were the creatures graced with near human abilities in order to obtain the rank of familiar or summon. This was not quite the case, she noted, for the bleary eyed frog before her. This creature was from Mount Myoboku, where all of Jiraya's summons were from. They were an old, independent, almost human creature that lived in tandem, but not under direct authority, to Konoha. They were... different. Almost human.

"Yes." She said carefully, looking in to it's glassy cloven irises There was a measure of sorrow there not normally associated with animals, not even the most intelligent of summons. "But it may be privet as he was the Jinchuriki. I do not wish the news of his death to spread to far to fast."

Jiraia snorted from behind her. Already his contacts as far as Mist and Rock were asking about the validity of Naruto's demise.

"I understand." The frog said quietly. "Please know my thought are with... the village." He took his paper and vanished.

There was silence for a moment now that Tsunade and Juray were alone. She brought her fingers to her chin and chewed her thumb nail. After a moment she breathed in a sigh. "Did naruto train with that one?"

"No, I doubt the ever met, but. . . There is. . ." He grumbled some thing dark. "_Was_ a. . ." His voice hitched just a little. Tsunade waited. "Was a belief that Naruto was_ The One_."

"The One." She murmured. The one was spoken some times with conviction, and some times with utter hatred by the man behind her, but always with faith. The One had been professed to have been with in the wall of the Village Hidden in The Leaves once before, then again out side the walls. "I don't believe in that crap, Jiraya." She shook her self a little and straightened out. "Not after what it did to the Fourth."

She heard him rumble from behind her. "I was starting to. . . again."

She turned her chair around and looked up at him. It only mildly surprised her to see the unshed tears gathering in his eyes. "Every time some one is declared The One the same thing happens." Three times now Jiraya had lost some one to that prophecy, that some one would come, under his training, and either save the world or destroy the world. Each time... She reached up to touch her gem, but remembered as her fingers hit skin, that it was locked away at home.

Three times some one had promised her they would become the Hokage, and each time they met the same fate at Jiraya's 'The One'. Only this time the third person was one and the same.

"Nor do I, not any more." He growled. "Not any more."

"Did you ever tell him about it?" She asked, fingering the cup of bone made by the two strong rods of her collar.

"Never." He glanced down at her with bitter-sweet sad eyes. "He had a big enough head as it was."

She tried to smile up at him, but didn't manage to well. The sun was warming the sky now, but it was still a minute or two from peeking up above the horizon. It seemed to be warming every where but with in the room. Naruto would have probably told her that she needed to put a bathrobe on and called her an old granny. That thought made her smile for real, just a little. Then it hurt.

"So, what are the official plans?" He asked, drawing her to the future that was before her and out of the musings of what would never be.

"First we call every one back." She said with a small nod towards the out side world. "We'll need every available body."

"What about Kurenai?" He asked

"Who?"

"Remember when I. . ." His cheeks blushed a little. "Landed on you?"

"OH!" Her fingers flattened and she covered up her cleavage. With a small snort she turned the chair back around, away from him. "Yes, she's not to be called, obviously."

"Then what after they are all back?" he asked, some small amusement in his voice.

"Then we contact those who still care enough to back us up in the conflict and wait."

She could hear hair and fabric rustling behind her, indicating that he was nodding. "Do you think Sand will back us?"

She frowned and remembered the unfinished letter to Garra. "I can only hope so. Not every one will be eager to aid us, but I think the Kazakage my be sympathetic."

She felt his big, warm, hand on her shoulder. "And after the fight?"

"As I said if I live I'll hand the title over to some one else." She replied. She looked up and frowned. "What will you do?"

A sad smile graced his face. "I am going to live, and I will be where ever you are."

She smiled kindly back at him. It felt nice to have his support with out his lechering for once. Dipping her head back down she reached up and put her hand on hers. If he was behaving then he had to be in pain. It didn't feel right. He loved that boy.

"You'll stay out of my shower." She said, not entirely sure why she said it, but hoping it would some how bring a touch of normalcy back to them.

"Of course." He replied, and some how that hurt to hear. It was like a white flag. She closed her eyes, and squeezed his hand.

To the prophecy, she realised, she had lost _four_, not three.

…...

The knock is so loud it hurts Fuka's pounding head. Shizune is there in almost an instant, still dressed in her white robe, still red eyes and teary. Fuka sat up slowly, watching, as she opened the door and gaped.

"Danzo-sama."

"I ask you to forgive me, but I must know, is Iruka here?" The old man asked.

Fuka stood and straightened his clothing out. His hair was down, but not an over all mess. "I am here." He called, and stepped up to Shizune. Reaching over her he pulled the door open more. "Is there some thing I can do for you?" He sculpted his face in to a mild frown. "It is very early."

Danzo glanced at Shizune and bowed slightly. "It is, again, I ask you to forgive me." When he stood straight his own frown deepened. "I have need of your skills, Umino-San."

"He's not to go out at the moment." Shizune said, her voice holding more fire than Fuka had thought she was capable of. "He's not well."

"Is the matter urgent?" Fuka asked over her head, ignoring her intensity.

"It may be." Danzo replied. "You are the paper work ninja and some files are only accessible to you."

It was a lie, but Shizune glanced up, believing it. "You are not well."

He smiled a little down at her. "I am a ninja. My health is a secondary concern next to the wellbeing of. . ." he looked up and out the door. "Every one in this village. Is that not correct?"

Danzo's lone eye narrowed. "The matter is of grave importance. It has to do with Naruto."

Inwardly Fuka winced. Iruka, he mused, even as far back as he was, must still be so sensitive to that name. "Naruto." he rolled the name of his own tongue. "That is a grave matter." The name swirled in his head like a cold breeze.

"You must come at once." Danzo stepped back. It was an order, not an option. Fuka gave him a small, dry smile.

"Yes sir."

Shizune grabbed his arm. "You can't!"

He smiled a little wider and looked up at Danzo while stroking Shizune's arm, comforting. Soothing. Getting her to trust. "I'm just a paper worker." He shrugged a little. "What can _I_ possibly do that would make the much of a difference to the village?"

Some thing dark flashed in Danzo's eye and he glowered just a little. "Aside from a rather interesting garden you recently planted near a lake, Iruka, your paper work skills are what I'm in need of at this moment."

Fuka could hear the underlying threat in his tone. The order still stood. He nodded just a little. "Ah, so you have heard about that little digging." He let the smile cool as he turned towards Shizune. "I must go, I will be back."

Slowly, after glancing at Danzo, she let him go. "Be fast."

"I will look after him, Lady Shizune." Danzo said, reassuring her with no smile. "He's a very important man, after all."

Fuka smiled and dipped his head. "I shouldn't be recognized for paper work." Looking back up at the man he let the smile fall in to a dry sneer. "But thank you any way. It's nice to know I'm. . . _needed_."

…...

Guy half stumbled, half crashed through the door and was shoved down on to his knees before Hiashi by the ANBU Jackal. Looking up he glared. "You have no right to do this to me!"

"I have all the right in the world." Walking slowly closer Hiashi's eyes, while frosty and vacant, seemed to narrow. "I am the new chief of police. I can arrest any and all who pose a threat to my clan, or to my village."

"You are insane!" Guy snapped. "Neji spoke of your mind, slow to anger, calculating, genius! But you. . . You have NONE of those qualities!"

The leader snarled and lifted a foot to strike, but stopped when a thin teen stepped between him and his prey. "Father."

"Hanabi, move." Hiashi growled.

"This action is not becoming of a leader of my clan, or the police fore of Konoha." She said flatly.

Guy could only see the back of her. Over her head he could see the growing rage that Hiashi was harboring.

"Tell her what you did." Guy's words came out like the blackest of black ink. Dripping and cold. "Tell her how you used Inoichi to rape Neji's mind!"

"MOVE HANABI!" Hiashi snarled.

Hanabi turned slowly, her calm thin body the only thing between Guy and the shaking clan leader. "Could you please repeat that information?" She asked. There was no trace of fear or anger, or even interest in her features.

"While Neji was in the hospital your father brought the mind reader in and they worked Neji over for who KNOWS how long. It almost killed him!"

Her features did not change as she gazed down at him. "I can not trust what you are saying has any truth to it, however I will record your accusations in our new file system and send them to be possessed by lunch." She turned again, her hands tucking neatly behind her back. "Father, according to Konoha law a prisoner must be taken to TnI for questioning when ever the accusation of Assassination, as you have accused him of, is present. There for I humbly suggest that you do so." As she spoke her fingers spelled out letters quickly as they rested in the small of her back.

From behind him he could hear Jackal grunt softly and Guy felt his hold loosen. He didn't understanding the letter signs, but he knew the youth was communicating with out her father's knowledge.

"Yes." Hiashi breathed. "Yes you are right." He cooled a little, but there was still rage in the air. "Take him, I will be there shortly after!"

"Yes my lord." Jackal replied. Guy was lifted carefully this time, and lead away. As he was guided out of the room he glanced back. Hanabi's cream eyes were fixed on him, unblinking. He felt a roll of familiar joy. Youth. . . he could still believe in youth!

He wanted to cry, but refused to do so in front of an ANBU. Instead he tried to do his best to mask his emotions. Sadly, he mused, Kakashi would be proud of him at that moment.

…...

Dawn was crawling over the land now, bathing all of the trees in it's soft, warm, light. The wind, hushed and subdued, whispered through the leaves.

Wolf leaned on the ledge of the window and pressed his head to the glass. The feelings were mixing so violently with in him that he felt like his conscious mind was a tiny ship, riding on the surface. At any minute it could capsize and he would drown.

Any minute.

He closed his eyes and took a slow breath, trying to ride out a sudden swell of sorrow and sadness. A part of him was eager to get back to the ANBU Lair as soon as his shift was over. But another part of him, a part of him that was pressed down deep, whispered like the wind, that Tsunade had sent him here to be alone because she didn't want him in the lair.

Wolf snarled. The other part of him fell deathly quiet.

The storm thundered on any way, and it rolled his stomach. He felt to warm, to weak, and to weary to fight it down now. All he could do was hope he didn't sink before he could have the storm sealed away forever.

That was a chilling comfort.

He opened his eyes and a flicker of real movement caught his attention. Three live bodies were drawing near in the growing light. His sharingan locked on and, as they approached, his breath hitched. The one in the center looked like. . . like. . .

He looked like the _fourth_.

Wolf straightened up and took a shaking breath. That some thing from deep with in stirred with a flicker of recognition, but he shoved it down as hard and as violently as he could. Hope lead to disappointment. And that would only lead to pain.

He snarled again and closed his eyes for a moment. The feelings raged, rocking him from inside out. He gasped as his throat tightened in a hard lump. Shaking he swallowed and forced his eyes back open.

The three were close enough for his natural eye now and he could see the dark uniforms that belonged to the Sound country. They were dirty, and the one in the middle was leaning heavily on the female who looked like. . .

His eyes snapped to the third person. He looked like no one Wolf knew. Drawing away from the window he felt as if the whole world was coming undone.

They looked like. . . looked so much like. . .

But the were the enemy. He had to warn the men, then he could seal Kakashi away. Kill him off forever. Then the pain would be over. Dead, in a living shell. A weapon. Lifeless.

Wolf whined, then snapped his jaws shut. It would all be over soon.

…...

Naruto clung to Sakura as the pain started to roll back through him. She had been right abut the five minute life span of the shot, what ever it was. He had been confident that they could make it back in that short amount of time, but even with out the pain his body was at it's limit.

The walls were awash in the gold of dawn however, and they looked for all the world like the gates of heaven.

"Almost there." Sakura said gently.

"Do you need me to assist as well?" Sai asked, sticking very close to his other side.

Naruto looked up at Sakura, who's eyes had taken on a dark ringed appearance not unlike the eyes the Raccoon was giving him. Sai looked her over as well and, taking his own initiative, pulled naruto's free arm up and over his shoulder.

It was a little humiliating to be pulled back in to the village as such, but really, Naruto mused, this was better than being brought back in chunks. His mind drifted to the segment of his own spine in his pocket and he shivered.

"Cold?" Sakura asked, concern lacing her exhausted features.

"No just... tired."

She nodded and, in another couple of steps, reached the enormous solid gate. They were home. Sakura shifted and pulled out from under Naruto. Naruto tried to remain standing on his own power, but sagged any way. Sai kept him upright, but even the pale faced ANBU teen looked worn out.

Sakura reached out, her hand poised to knock, but before she did she turned and smiled at Naruto and Sai. "I'm so happy, the first thing I do after I sleep this mission off is shower!"

"I want raman." Naruto grunted. Sai lifted a slim eyebrow at him, the only outward evidence of his inner thoughts on that subject, but his eyes were smiling.

"I believe I would like. . ."

Naruto waited for him to finish on bated breath. When they had left the walls Sai had only been a weapon, wanting nothing, feeling nothing, now. . .

"To write my report and then take my appropriate rest before my next mission." He said, the smile in his eyes fading a bit.

Naruto almost groaned. "Do you want any thing else?" he asked. Sakura was grumbling some thing about computer brained child killers as she knocked, no longer interested in what ever Sai had to say.

"Well." Sai's voice dropped low. "I want to see your infection cleared. I am still a member of this team. It would be a loss. . . incalculable measure should you parish."

Naruto beamed at that. "Sai. . ."

He was interrupted when Sakura screamed. Looking up he saw Kotetsu and Izumo pining her down with blades drawn and eyes dark.

"HOLD IT SOUND NINJA!" Izumo snarled vehemently. "While your disguise is clever you missed with the hair color!"

Sakura, over he shock, rolled her eyes. "Izumo you idiot. . ." She sighed, long and heavy. "I can prove it's really us. You have a scar on your ass that looks like a cat licking your. . ."

He jumped off with a yelp. "It's them, let her up it's them!"

Sakura smirked, exceedingly pleased her medical knowledge was once again to her advantage.

Kotetsu backed off slowly, still dubious. "Licking his what?"

Izumo glared with eyes that nearly bugged out of his skull. "_**NEVER YOU MIND**_!"

Naruto tugged forward and Sai obliged him. "Yes it's us. Did Capitan Yamato make it back?"

The two guards glanced at each other slowly. One with slightly red cheeks. After a moment Kotetsu looked back at Naruto and nodded. "Yeah, he did and. . . he said you were dead."

"The whole village has been freaking out." Izumo added. "You guys have no idea what the last few days have been like."

Sakura glanced up at Naruto, worried. Naruto swallowed his own fear and cleared his throat. "What about Kakashi Sensei? Do you know any thing about him?"

This time the two guards gave each other darker looks.

Naruto felt the fear swell and he stepped forward, still clinging to Sai, but finding his legs gaining new stamina ad his heart leaped in to his throat. "What? What happened?"

Izumo rubbed the back of his neck. "Well. . ." He glanced over at the other guard. "Kotetsu?"

"Not me man." he lifted his hands. "I'm not telling the _Jinchuriki_."

Naruto growled as darkly as he could, but half way through it turned in to a moan. He doubled over as the last of the pain killer wore off. Sai eased him down tot he ground.

"Whoa, is he OK?" Kotetsu asked Sakura.

"He's badly infected and needs medical attention right now." She answered stepping up to his side.

"Lets get him in side the city." Sai pulled Naruto up and Sakura took his other side. Agony flared at each step as they brought him in through the gate, then in to the small room behind the gate's main guard post. Inside it was warm and there was a ratty sofa in one corner. Sai and Sakura eased him on to it and he curled, his arms wrapping around his guts.

"Kakashi. . ." He hissed. "Is he alive?" He could feel tears but stubbornly he shoved them back.

Instead of answering Izumo stepped away. "I'll fetch the Hokage."

Kotetsu nodded.

Naruto opened his mouth to ask again, but the pain doubled and he moaned instead. Sai's fingers skimmed his neck once more.

"Naruto." His voice trembled just a little. "Please, forgive me."

"F-for what?" he huffed, looking up through the haze of pain.

"I am the reason you are in this situation." He was frowning slightly, real sorrow showing in his eyes. "Also, I must report now, as are my orders."

Naruto reached up and took the other teen's sleeve in his fingers. "I forgive you." He wheezed. "But don't, don't leave me. . ."

"You are not alone Naruto. Sakura is here."

Naruto looked past him to where Sakura was half deflated on a nearby chair. She was with him, but by the looks of it she might not be for long.

"Sakura."

She looked up, tears filling her eyes. "Sorry, Naruto." She stood again and stepped up to him. "I'm here."

He wanted to speak, but new pain washed over him. Blearily he witnessed Sai leave. Sakura's hand reached down and took his, but some how it was less of a comfort than it should have been. Worry washed through the pain.

From with in he could feel the Raccoon starting to fret. He didn't have the energy to sooth it, and he didn't want to think abut what would happen if his new little problem freaked out and took over. He needed Kakashi, needed his Sharingan. Needed his help and support.

_"Did you tell her about your problem?" He asked._

_"No. She questioned me over and over. She wanted me to tell her why I wouldn't leave your side, but I didn't say any thing to her."_

_"Why?" Kakashi demanded softly. "She is the Hokage. She needs to know these things."_

_Naruto glanced away, looking torn and a angry. "I think she wanted you to die."_

"S-sakura. . ."

"I'm here."

"Go find Kakashi. He. . ."

Her hand skimmed his cheek. "I'm sure he's fine." She didn't sound sure. "Besides, there is nothing you can do right now, OK. So just rest. With your rate of healing I'm sure that by lunch time this will have all been a bad memory. You can see him then."

Helpless all he could do was nod and try not to writhe in pain.

…...

With the orders out and the vast majority of her battle ready force set to return, Tsunade worked quickly on her to-do list. At the top was the task of writing and then sending a letter to Garra.

"Do we have any more messengers on hand?" She asked, glancing back.

Jiraya didn't answer. He was gazing blankly out the window, his features limp in sorrow.

"Jiraya?" She prodded.

He turned slowly back to her. "Sorry, what?"

Smiling softly she reached out and patted his arm. "Never mind, I'll be right back. I need to check a list."

He nodded and returned to staring out the window with a small but heavy sigh.

The smile dropped and she stood. Upon exiting the office she found the halls deserted at this early hour. It didn't help that most of the able bodied personal were out on a futile mission. Glancing down to her 'To-Do' list she noted that she had written Iruka down as one of the people she had to talk to/kill. No where on the list did she have the name Kakashi or Wolf.

A part of her burned with anger, the other part of her froze with regret, at the thought of the Copy-Cat. She took a shaking breath of her own and looked up steadily. The Hokage was the pinnacle of all the ninja world. She could not act with feeling at this time.

"Well that's just a load of crap." She heard a nasal whine from the end of the hall. "And if you don't stop ogling my ass, Kouta, I'm going to tell my mother." Tsunade winced at the way the woman's voice sawed raggedly through the morning air. It felt disrespectful, some how, and crass, given the wight of the world at the moment.

"How can I be ogling if you are sitting down, oh read headed one?" A man's voice replied filled with feign innocence.

Tsunade felt a wave of agitation and did not temper it. Lesser ranked people needed to know their place and she had never, ever, been one to temper her physical demonstration of authority. She rounded the corner and glared. The red head woman, Shiori, was sitting with her feet propped up on the desk while piston chewing bubble gum and filing her nails. Her vest was off and only a thin, net weave, cat suit with a black swimsuit on under it, covered her body. Except for her shoes. They weren't ninja regulation, but pointy toes stilettos. Tsunade's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Only one woman in the Hokage tower was permitted stilettos. Before she could snap at the woman, however, Kouta spotted her and stepped back in to a slightly more dignified stance than the one he had been, leaning close to the secretary and letting his eyes dip lower than her eyes.

"Lady Tsunade." He greeted. "And what bring you down to our humble level on this, such a dreary and yet sunny morning?" While still some what slouching his eyes showed a flicker of apology, though she wasn't sure just for what. The situation at hand, or their obvious lack of tact. Either way it disarmed her from wanting to gut them instantly.

"I need a list of messengers." She grated out, still not fond of the woman who was looking up at her, still sitting with her feet up and still filing her nails. Though her piston chewing had quieted.

"What ranked messengers?" The secretary asked, glancing down at her nails.

"Highest we have." Stunade tried not to growl. The man's soft eyes were averted from them both, but still managing to observe from a quiet and respectful distance.

"Animal or human?" Shiori asked, as if not interested.

"Any."

"Didn't Osamu and Shou say they were going to look that over?" Kouta asked, looking up.

The secretary shrugged with one arm.

"Why would low ranking ninja like you need a messenger?" Tsunage didn't temper her growl this time.

"I have no idea, Lady Tsunade, I'm just a secretary." Shiori replied. "I could summon them if you would like."

"Do it." it was an order, a command, testing how efficient her obviously tactless emergency staff possessed.

Shiori leaned back lazily and looked over her shoulder, head nearly upside down, towards the file room behind the work station. "HEY OSAMU! 3"

There was a moment of silence before a muffled "Yes?" could be heard.

"YOU GOT THE SCROLL OF MESSENGERS BACK THERE?" Her nasal voice riped the air to ribbons.

There was another moment of silence before a second man replied. "Yes we have it, does some one want it?"

"YEAH, THE HOKAGE!"

Tsunage scowled at the red head and was about to tell her to do things _proper_, in what some may not have called a proper way, when Kouta coughed.

"She's so charming when she hasn't had coffee, isn't she?"

Tsunade glared at him. He shrugged dismissively. Before she could disembowel them both Osamu and a shorted, slightly pudgy, red head man exited the room. She could only surmise he was Shou.

"Lady Hokage, Ma'am, I'm sorry." Shou held up the summoners list. It was tattered and wrinkled and singed.

"What were you doing with this?" She snarled.

"We were attempting to discover, on a purely sub atomic calculation, the varying differences between one set of chronological sequences and another that may or may not have resulted in a parallelogram shift in temporal. . ." Kouta stabbed Shou in the ribs with an elbow, silencing him.

"What my _potelé_ comrade here is saying is that we saw a discrepancy in one list and wanted to make sure things were as they should be." Kouta flashed a charming, yet dishonest, smile.

Tsunade held it up. "What exactly, did you DO. TO. THE. LIST?"

Osamu Cleared his throat. "As for the condition of the list, I take all responsibility." He pressed his glasses up his nose. "I request you turn your attention, for a moment, from there here and now, to the event involving my self, Kuta, and the Hyuga clan leader Hiashi. You may remember that, in order to keep him from turning Kouta in to street Pizza, I had to attempt to immobilize him with a rather unorthodox method."

Tsunade nodded, still glaring at the four people before her. "And?" She ground out.

"AAAND. . ." Shou grinned, oblivious to the danger that was radiating thought the room. "While we aren't entirely sure about the containment seal's effects on humans and animals with low chakra powers we know for SURE that the more energy a living creature has, the more trapped they become!"

Tsunade blinked, taking in the statement. "So. . ." She set aside the impending doom for a moment to clarify. "You have come up with a way to completely immobilize some one with just a scroll and chakra?"

"Yes but. . ." Osamu frowned. "There is preliminary indication that it may have some unpleasant side effects." He swayed just a little.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "Testing?" She lifted up the scroll. "On WHO?"

"My self." Osamu replied, blinking sleepily. "However the messenger's summon scroll was two point three four feet from where I was standing when the test was conducted. The energy arced and I'm afraid some things were a bit singed."

She softened her glare, just a bit. "You tested it on your self?"

"I could not condone my theory on any one else unless I tried it on my self first, Lady Hokage." He spoke with such flat honesty that it cooled the anger from her bones.

"You said side effects." Kouta stepped close and looked him over. "Kouta, you mad scientist you, what's wrong and how can Doctor Kouta fix it?"

Osamu blinked again. "While the output and thus the consumption of chakra is controlled by the subject I'm afraid several neuroel-ectrical impulses may have become scrambled. Short term exposure causes a headache. . ." He winced at that statement, "but long term exposure could cause dramatic mood instability. Even permanent insanity. Especially if some one had already been slightly unbalanced to begin with." He swayed.

Shiori leaped up and took his arm. "Doctor Kouta." She gave the brunet man a sweet look. "Why don't we take out scientist some where he can rest, Hmm?"

"None of you are going any where yet." Tsunade snapped. "First of all ALL experiments must be approved by my self or. . ." The door to the tower exploded inward.

A blur of humanity rushed towards her and Tsunade Heard some one yell 'hit the deck'. A second body rushed towards her and pushed her to the ground while the first one, the one from the door, sailed over her and slammed hard in to the wall behind her. She shifted under Osamu's frame, and looked around.

Kouta had jumped on to Shiori, shielding her, while Shou had pulled the summoner's messenger scroll down and covered it.

The man splattered against the wall, groaning slightly, was Izumo.

Osamu leaped up, then promptly fell back in to Kouta and Shiori's waiting arms. "You OK Lady Hokage?" Shiori asked, real worry lining her features.

"Fine." She snapped. Standing she brushed her self off and stomped up to Izumo. Yanking him violently from the wall she turned him around and re pinned him to it. "What?" She growled, inches from his face. "Are you doing, running in here like that?"

He blinked, dazed, then smiled. "Naruto is home. Sakura too."

Tsunade snarled and gripped him harder. "Naruto is _dead_. What makes you think he or she are home?"

Izumo blushed a little and glanced around before pulling close to her left ear. As he whispered Tsunade's eyes widened. "She. . . she knew that. . .?" her heart trembled and she felt her knees jell. "Only my medical staff could know th-that." She pulled back and stared in to his eyes. There was no dishonesty, no malicious intent.

He smiled, though his cheeks were now as red as her nails. "Ah... she did. They ARE home. They are alive!"

Tsunade blinked. Her heart had suddenly stalled and her fingers went lax, dumping the gate guard on his scared rear end. "Home. Alive."

She felt strong hands take her shoulders. Kouta was at her side, guiding her to the secretary's chair. "Easy, my lady. Please, take a seat."

She let him lower her as she took in a shaky breath. "It can't be, Tenzo said he saw him die, he brought back my gem." She looked up at the brunet man smiling down at her. The world was blurring. Alive. Naruto. Sakura. He mind reeled.

"Lady Hokage?" Shou asked, also stepping up to her, trying in vain to smooth out the summoner's messenger scroll. "Do you want one of us to get Jyraia for you?"

She nodded numbly and the chubby, smiling, young man ran off. Her finger tips soared up to her collar bone. Under the solid bone she could feel her heart beating madly. She could give his gem back. But the head band. . . what had happened to the head band?

Kakashi... didn't he still have it? Kakashi... her stomach churned. He'd been devastated but now, maybe. . . She _dared_ to hope that this time things would be OK.

"Lady Tsunade." Izumo said, picking him self up gingerly. "Naruto is alive, but he is in dire need of medical attention."

She blinked. She could hear two sets of foot steps thundering through the hall back towards her. "How bad?"

He frowned. "He had to be carried in to the city. Sakura said it was an infection in his stomach. He's in a lot of pain."

At that moment Jyraia appeared next to her, his eyes wild (and flickering all up and down the secretary) and his breath coming in little excited gasps.

"IS IT TRUE?"

Tsunade grinned. "It's true."

"THEN WHY RE YOU JUST SITITNG THERE, BOOBS? LETS GO!"

She had no time to protest as he snatched her wrist up and pulled her from the chair. Quickly she tossed over her shoulder, "Fetch a medical kit!" Then they were out side in the glorious, amazing, miraculous day light.

…...

Fuka was lead to a to the file room, where he had been so many times as Iruka. The papers had been hastily cleaned up, but there was no organization, no care. He almost frowned. Such an untidy way to treat the world's most important information. A shame.

"Naruto, as jinchuriki, is different." Danzo said darkly. His hands worked the seal on the lone file cabinet quickly. It opened with a little 'pop'.

"I know about his powers, but what you haven't told me is what you want Naruto. . ." He paused. "_Wanted_ Naruto for." He corrected him self, and felt a wash of anguish.

"These should give you all of the information you need." One elder said, pulling a file from the file cabinet.

Fuka took the folder and thumbed through them. "These are letters."

Danzo nodded, once. "They are letters between my self and the Third."

Fuka frowned a little more. "I don't understand. Why Naruto?"

"Read the letters."

As Fuka looked back down at the file in his hands a flicker of movement caught his eyes. Looking over he spotted Shikamaru, standing, a strange hollow smile spreading over his features.

"Umino-sensei." He bowed just a little. "What a pleasant surprise. The last time I saw you you were huddled in a snivling heap on the floor under the feet of the Hokage's aid. " His shadows stretched out, touching Fuka's. "You tried to kill your self and I'm. . ." His shadows skimmed the floor just an inch from Fuka's feet. "Pleased, to see you are in the same service as I am."

Fuka felt his own shadow crawl just a little.

_The Paper Work Ninja's eyes were unfocused._

_He still did not have his answers._

_Paper like snow drifted in the air, like leaves in fall. His shadow crawled and writhed over every sheet, touched every letter marked in black, every stamp of the state marked in red. The shadows slithered over the drops of blood._

Fuka turned to him fully and leveled his expression. The corners of his mouth turned up just so. "I suppose it is not to rude of me to ask why you are here, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru's expression shifted oddly and his eyes narrowed. "When my friend was very nearly killed I realised that I had not explored my full potential. I could be so much. . ." He hesitated, thinking, "Stronger. Maybe even stronger than you, sensei." His shadows slunk back. "While you always said I was lazy and unmotivated, lord Danzo here has shown me that there is some thing worth investing my energy on."

"Shikamaru is here to help us understand the particulars of Naruto's powers." Danzo added.

A cold feeling washed through Fuka's mind as he watched Shikamaru watch him. "Naruto has been killed." He turned back towards Danzo as the corners of his mouth slid back down. "I don't see how he can continue to be the subject of this Orginazation's missions."

"Read the letters, teacher." Shikamaru's eyes darkened a little. "I found them. . . _fascinating_." His shadows writhed below him, slithering over every inch of the floor directly around him. They were dark and cold feeling.

Fuka frowned and stepped back just a little. "I will read them." He closed the file and slipped it under his arm. "All of them."

"See that you do, and remember, we still need Hatake dead." Danzo ground out.

"I don't see why." Fuka frowned. "With Naruto gone Hitake's influence. . ."

"The Sharingan and it's power, Umino-san, is what we want eliminated. If you can not find it with in you to kill him, then do your best to eliminate that eye." Danzo's one eye darkened. "That is your single mission for the _moment_."

Fuka glanced down at the papers under his arm. A nagging, tugging, thought in the back of his mind refused to form fully, but refused to die. The impression of hidden meaning and information haunted his senses. "I will eliminate the the threat to my village."

"Good." Danzo turned his attention to Shikamaru. "And you?"

Shikamaru's macabre smile crept over his features slowly. "I will work to gain more strength and then I too will eliminate all threats to my village."

Fuka leveled his gaze at Iruks'a former student. He had been bright, but unmotivated. Iruka had always feared that, under the wrong circumstances, his powerful mind could be bent in the wrong way, if enough force was applied. Fuka knew that if Iruka saw the child now he would surely be horrified. Fuka couldn't say he was entirely sure he liked the look the teen was giving him, or that his own feelings were much more different that Iruka's in this matter.

"Shikamaru, about what happened in the ally. . ." The teen's eyes darkened even more, but the smile scrawled even wider over his teeth.

"Umino-san. . ." Heavy, thundering foot steps interrupted Shikamaru. He drew back in to the shadows, nearly vanishing. "The Hokage." He frowned. "And Jiraya."

Fuka stepped towards the door and opened it. Sure enough the two Sanin were racing down the steps. Danzou also drew back in to the dark and nearly, but not entirely, vanished. Fuka stepped out of the room, the files still tucked under one arm.

"Oi, Sanin-san, Lady Hokage, are we under attack?" He called.

Tsunade, now at the bottom of the steps, came to an abrupt halt. "Iruka!" Her grin split her features and, unlike the Teen concealed in the darkness behind him, was warm and filled with joy. "Why are you here I thought. . . Oh never mind. . ." She stepped up to him and grabbed his shoulders fondly. "Naruto is Home!"

Fuka felt his heart skip a beat. "Naruto?" His fingers curled tight around the letters. "He's alive?"

Tsunade nodded almost violently. "I'm going to meet him now." She let him go with a small squeeze and turned to join Jiraya. They disappeared down another flight of stairs.

Fuka took a slow breath and smiled his own, dry, smile. "Alive?"

"Read the letters." Danzo said gravely from behind him. "Also, I have a new task, along with Hatake?"

Fuka turned and straightened his shoulders. "What would you have me do?"

"I think you already know what your job concerning this Jinchuriki is."

Fuka nodded once. "I understand." He bowed. "I'll get to it right away."

…...

Ibiki looked up from his morning report and looked over the three men standing before him. The prisoner in question was sobbing violently and blathering on and on about youth and Kakashi and the end of the world. He sighed and rubbed his temple.

He had eight people to "Talk to" today. Three were deadly assassins from Mist who he had on top priority. One man was a rapist who may have killed a number of Konoka's civilian women, that also was on the top of his list. Two other men were ANBU agents who had snapped under the emotional and psychological pressures associated with the job. The older one was one of the few men Ibiki took the liberty of calling 'friend'. He had set aside three whole hours to work whit that individual, making the time for the last two people tight. The seventh guy was trying to kill him self and needed extensive counseling just to calm down and start processing his anger. The eight man was simply an insane, dark skinned, foreigner who was convinced the dead were after him.

On top of that he had a whole list of new and re-entered ANBU agents he needed to go through to see who needed psyche evaluations and who didn't. While Kakashi was on the list he was not on the top of it, and there fore Ibiki tuned out Guy's blathering on that particular subject. In fact, until he could ascertain WHY the three men had come in to his office, he tuned the man out entirely.

His eyes narrowed on the new chief of police. Hiashi the self conceited man with absolute authority in side his own clan had never been one to make public trouble because of the simple fact that out side his clan he was powerless. But by the look of the papers he had stuffed under Ibiki's nose all of that had changed over night. Ibiki sighed, roughly. It wasn't even eleven O'clock yet and the Hiuga was abusing his powers.

"Why have you brought Might Guy in here?" He asked, letting the morning's report rest on his desk.

"He's trying to assassinate my youngest daughter!" Hiashi snarled. "He's kidnapped his own students and taken my elder daughter with him as well. All of them are going to try and kill Hanabi!"

"Proof?" Ibiki picked up and sipped at his tea casually, ignoring the man as much as he could with out terminating the interaction all together.

"I. . ." Hiashi's voice faltered. Clearly he was expecting so much more respect that Ibiki was giving him. It almost made the TnI specialist smile. "He HAS them!" The Hyuga blurted out, full of righteous indignation.

"Where are they?" Ibiki asked, looking up at Guy instead of the new chief.

"Kakashi's house." He sobbed. "You don't understand!"

"Neji tried to kill him self." Hiashi growled. "It may have been a ruse! He's wanted the honor of ruling the clan for years!"

"He wants NOTHING to to with your horrible clan!" Guy snapped through his tears. "And he wasn't. . ." He shook his head. "He didn't. . . It wasn't HIM!"

"You." Hiashi fairly vibrated with lethal intent, inches from the crying teachers nose. "You are a disgusting man, and I want you thrown in the darkest, deepest hole I can find. Your filth has polluted the mind of my Brother's Son! Your FILTH has nearly killed my daughters. Both of them! You have no RIGHT to teach a Hyuga. You have no honor! No scene of clan duty! Were you born to our clan you would have been branded in to submission and TAUGHT how to behave!"

"Gentlemen." Ibiki picked the papers back up and sighed as he made a note that his interaction with his old friend would have to be cut short by fifteen minutes. Hiashi had finally snapped, he mused darkly, and this could take a while. The only bright side was that Anko owed him bet money now regarding the Hyuga's sanity. "Hiashi." He said, flatly. "You are not making any scene. Do you have proof? Do you have any witnesses?"

"He just admitted he took them." He thrust a finger in to Guy's vest so violently the teacher jumped back a little.

"I took them to keep them from you and your torture and slavery!" Guy clenched his fists so hard his whole hand was turning white. "They are not bound, they are not imprisoned! Asuma knows where I took them, Kakashi knows where I took them! They can leave any time they want!"

"Lies!" Hiashi snarled so viciously the ANBU Jackal backed away. Guy refused to back down, however, though the was _still_ crying.

"Tell him about how you used Inoichi on your own nephew!" He sobbed.

Ibiki's eyes narrowed. That was unexpected. He looked up in to the deeply troubled teacher's eyes. "Excuse me?"

Hiashi turned to him and scowled, blocking off Guy's reply. "The elders suggested we search his mind to determine if his near death was a part of an assassination plot or not. They brought Inoichi to me."

Ibiki frowned, not happy. Both men were agreeing the event took place. Crazy or not when two opposing forces agreed then 99% of the time the event happened. The rest of the time it was genjitsu. "He did not report this to me."

"They snuck in, late at night!" Guy fumed. "Like. . . criminals! They raped his mind!" The word 'rape' was hissed with vile disgust.

"Inochi does not act in that manner, Might guy." Ibiki said coolly. "He would not do that to one of our own students." Turning to Hiashi he deliberately narrowed his eyes even more. "Explain."

"The elders brought him to me and informed me that they thought Neji's attempted suicide was a cover up for a plot hatched to either place him or my eldest daughter in command by either killing my youngest, or my self."

"THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED!" Guy roared. His whole body was a tremble of rage. Wild, wild rage. The ANBU guard grabbed him and held him back as he leaned in close to Hiashi. "My students would _never_ kill a member of this city!"

Ibiki stood and, after setting his papers down carefully and gently, leaned over his desk and gave them both some thing Anko like to call his 'I-will-make-your-darkest-nightmares-a-reality' look. Hiashi backed down a little, suddenly looking far less antagonistic. Guy remained strong, defiant, but not as crazy looking.

"I will NOT have you barging in here and accusing MY STAFF of doing CRIMINAL ACTS!" He leaned forward just a little and all three men backed away. "Hiashi, you have no proof what Guy or his students have done is criminal. All he was doing, according to what I can tell, was acting like a good teacher and protecting his students from what he saw as a crazy man. He may be right, you seem crazy to me. That is NOT a good thing." He glared at Guy. "You had no right to take an injured person with out medical permission and you know it. However, I'm in a bad mood, I am pressed for time, and I don't want to deal with you or your insane accusations about Inoichi today. Supposing he did enter Nehi's mind he would do so with utmost care as to NOT hurt him in any way. The accusation of rape is to be dropped at once. That is all. You are free to go. Now GET OUT!"

Hiashi and the ANBU bowed and mumbled submissive words before backing out the door. Guy, trembling slightly, was still there. Brave or stupid, Ibiki didn't know, but he could respect a man for standing firm. Even if it looked more stupid than brave.

"What?" he asked in a flat, controlled, easy tone. Yelling now would be a waist of energy. The man was already afraid of him.

"I did see Inoichi do as I have said. My word is my life in this matter." He wrung his hands together, white knuckled. "The elders. . . could it be true?"

Ibiki sighed and sat back down. "I don't know, Might Guy." He rubbed his temple again. No amount of coffee would chase this new headache away. "Maybe. I'll let you know. Till then get those kids home and stay out of Hiashi's line of fire."

Guy nodded and backed towards the door. "Yes sir, thank you Ibiki-San!" As he departed, quickly, Ibiki slapped his hands over his eyes and rubbed.

"Inoichi?" He growled and added one more to the list for the day. "This whole city is loosing it."

…...

Wolf kept to the edges of the dark void that was opening up before him. White splotches of porcelain bobbed, facing him, watching him. Light flickered in from behind him, but he was adjusting to the dark. To turn and look at the glowing golden dawn would only hurt his eyes. Both of them.

As he walked further a small part of him recoiled, aching, slowly coming apart. That part of him would be silenced for good soon.

"Wolf."

He looked up at Ox and stood as tall as he could. "Ox." His breath was flickering between steady and gasping, his limbs were trembling, and his natural eye didn't seem able to focus.

"You know an old friend of yours was here to find you." Ox looked away, out over the sea of white faces reflecting the gold, swaying between outer village warmth and frigid ever-dark ANBU depths. "He was _desperate_ to find you."

"I have no friends." Wolf replied, his body was shivering, though he didn't feel the cold. Not here. Not yet. "I am ANBU. I am Wolf." Behind him the world was awakening. The cheery sounds of the city drifted in and down like the echoes of feelings for the people from with in the walls. Calling.

"Hmm." Ox looked back down. "Kakashi has friends." His white face, with the gold ring in the slick hard muzzle, betrayed none of the human underneath, but his voice held worry. Wolf cast his eyes away. He didn't want to see the underneath. He did not want to feel the warmth on his back or hear the laughter in the streets.

"I am not that man." He fought to keep his shoulders wide, his chin up, his mind sharp. "But that man is trying to _take over_."

"You are that man." Ox stated flatly. "You can not deny that logic. You are that man."

"ANBU are of two minds." Wolf found him self sinking just a little. It was hard to keep him self tall. "You know this as well as I do. The baser personality is covered over by the mask personality." He felt his fingers, cooling and shaking, clench. "I am wolf." He added again, noting the slightly desperate tone in his own voice.

"Why are you here?" Ox asked, frank and blunt now. His voice was lowering, growing more quiet, but also sharpening. There was a touch of condemnation in it. Ox knew the answers, he decided, and Ox was reprimanding him with out actually doing so.

"You know what I want." It was a whisper, begging, like the lowest ranking mutt whining for scraps. No matter what OX thought did not change what Wolf knew would stop the cawing sensation with in his chest. The gagged scrapping of his hear against heavy ribs. It was hard to breath, let alone think of fight. "Make_ him_ go away."

"You know." Ox said slowly, in a slightly softer voice, though it was still low and quiet. "If you do this now there's no going back." His whole being was illuminated, reflecting the new dawn. A chance to grieve, to acknowledge the loss. . . to feel the pain and morn and ache. . .

Wolf closed his eyes away from the hot reflected warmth. "I know."

A long, long, silence floated between them. Ox turned, after what seemed like ages, and started to walk away. His foot steps prompting Wolf to open his eyes again.

"Come then. Let it be done."

Wolf followed, his tremors calming. It would finally be over. Forever. The darkness swallowed him.

…...

There were a long, unspoken, vehement, string of curses coursing through Naruto. None of them could find his tongue. But each one, had they been uttered, would have turned the air blue on a heart beat. Pain he'd become acquainted with all to much in the last handful of days. Fear and hatred had become almost steady states in his mind as well. There had been so much negative, soul-crushing, life shattering that had happened that now, by contrast, the hug he was getting, was far to much to take.

Especially since Jiraya's knee was digging in to his stomach.

Through tears Naruto could see Sakura getting some what the same treatment from Tsunade. The old hag who had become Hokage was gently caressing Sakura's dirt lined cheeks, wiping away a couple of quietly shed tears.

It should have been a splendid reunion, really. But the knee in the wound was making him almost blind with agony. His stomach lurched in a very unfriendly way and he shoved back with a whimper. "Jiraya Sensei. . ."

The sage lowered him back down and he collapsed on to the couch and curled up in a ball of half keening gasps and shaking limbs. He felt like he was going to throw up but KNEW that if he did the last strained hold on his consciousness would give out. Still all to fresh was the memory that Kakshi had nearly died under Tsunade's care. A flicker of a memory of her nearly killing the man a second time floated through his mind. Jiraya had come, however, and had saved his helpless teacher.

"Naruto. . ." The pervy save breathed. It was a sound mixed with unabashed joy and fathoms upon fathoms of worry. "What's wrong? Is it the seal?"

Naruto grunted and gave a little shake of his head. The seal was a problem, yes, but not at the moment. The fox was not actively trying to rip him apart as he was still resting from his fight with the Raccoon. That didn't mean he wouldn't try sooner or latter.

Sakura's voice drifted over every thing, but he couldn't pull him self together enough to understand the words. He could gather the tone though. While it was over all strong and factual it wavered to almost tears and horror more often than he wanted to hear. She also sounded exhausted.

Cold fingers skimmed his cheek and he looked up. Tsunade was looking down at him, her big soft eyes shedding big wet tears. "Naruto. Is any of that true?"

Jiraya was next to her, his hand on his back, his brow knit with worry. Slowly he turned his focus on to Sakura. "I told them, Naruto, I hat to. I told them every thing."

A part of him felt betrayed. After all Tsunade had done to Kakashi, but the rest of him understood. She was the Hokage. She had to know. If the seal finally fell apart it would be up to her to stop the impending disaster.

"Is it true you have two of them in you?" The Hokage looked bewildered. Shocked even. "Is it really sealed inside of you?"

Sealed? No. The Raccoon could actually come out as he pleased. His eyes widened a little as he found that he, and Sasuke, where the only two people on the planet. Fear gripped him. If he told her then . . . then. . .

He shuddered, not knowing what would happen to him. He'd be locked away, maybe for ever, away from the village possibly. Left to decay in fear and madness, unable to die. But then he wondered what would happen if it did get loose here in the city. There would be nothing any one could do, even Kakashi. The terror that suddenly flared up from with in him gave strength to his fatigued limbs and he tried to sit up.

"Let me go!" He had to get away, one way or another, from this place. "He'll kill you all!"

Strong hands pressed him down as Jiraya nudged Tsunade away. "Easy, brat, just take it easy." His hands held firmly. "Just takwe it easy."

Naruto gasped and felt the infected aria burn. He fell back down and swallowed a hot scream. "It'll kill you!" Sakura wedged in between the Sanin and gave him a weary, long, look.

"Calm the hell down already." She grumbled, tierd, spent, and looming so very near. "Your fever is frying your brain, so stop all that thrashing. The more blood you move through that puss sack you call a gut the more likely you'll go in to septic shock and no critter this side or the other of hell will be able to drag you from that death."

"But. . "

She scowled. "Shut up."

Naruto shut his mouth and swallowed a protest.

"If that thing hasn't come jumping out of you then don't you think maybe it might have a reason to want to stay put?" She added, hands akimbo, eyes lined heavily with black from lack of proper sleep.

"Well. . ."

"It DOES have a reason!" Jiraya said, his grin spreading so wide it looked like it might split his face. Tears were starting to roll down his cheeks. Naruto backed away from the drops of salt water falling from the sage's eyes. He'd seen the man cry, but only ever after an altercation with a woman. The sight unnerved him even further.

"What do you mean?" He asked, knowing he'd not like the answer.

"You are The One!" The Sanin half shouted. The look of pure radiant joy poring out of him was overwhelming. Naruto sank back. The move sent another bolt of pain through him. He curled up and hissed.

"The one?" Ha managed to ask. The one what?"

"Not now." Tsunade groused, but there was still joy in her voice too.

"Hokage-sama, if we don't get that infection clear. . ." Sakura started, sounding agitated and just a touch exasperated at all of the gushing and mushy love and joy.

"I know." Tsunade's voice fell a bit. "I'll send word to prepare the surgery ward."

Surgery? Naruto looked up at Sakura. "What? You are going to operate on me?" A new wave of decidedly human fear washed over him. He'd never liked hospitals before. They had been claustrophobic and all to regimented. They wouldn't let him eat Raman, or even go out side.

Besides that's where Kakashi had nearly died twice.

"We have to open you up and clean you out." Sakura lifted a hand to her head and swayed just a little. "Like I said, you could go septic. . . meaning your infection could spread to your whole body. You already have a fever, a bad one."

"Yeah but. . ."

"No buts." She snapped, giving him a cold blue stare. "I lost you TWICE and so help me I'm not about to loose you a third time!"

Tsunade touched her shoulder. "Sakura. You need medical attention too." The Hokage's voice was softer and more full of compassion than Naruto could remember it holding for a long time. He frowned. Sakura had been holding the whole team together for two days now. She had been tortured, exhausted, wounded, unnaturaly enhanced by solder pills, and then crashed after those and then STILL healed him, Sai, and a huge snake. Naruto swallowed thickly as he looked her over. She was swaying more so now than she had been in hours. Her eyes were sunken deep in to dark pits and her whole body had a withered, all consuming, spent look to it. Silently he cursed him self for not noticing that sooner.

"Sakura. . ."

Her eyes met his and for a moment the two Sanin seemed to vanish from his mind. She had sacrificed her self every step of the way while he'd done nothing to protect her. He'd make up for it from that point on and he swore to it, silently, fervently.

As if reading his mind she grunted. "I'm fine."

He wanted to protest but even more pain rolled through him. This time it took him so completely that the whole room vanished in a sea of white stars and ribbons of agony. Some one lifted him and white hair brushed his nose.

"Can you disguise your self?" He heard Jiraya ask. He was to engrossed in simply trying to breath to wonder why the Sanin would ask. Weakly he nodded.

"Good, if you can, try to hide the cloths you have on,make it look Konoha. Change your hair color."

Naruto grit his teeth and formed the hand signs even as they were exiting the little room. He saw Sakura following close behind him, her hair now a dark gray green and her outfit colored to match. Her eyes were the same though, blue and sunken.

He closed his eyes from her face and focused on keeping up the image of being some one else. It seemed to take days, maybe even years, before they were going back in side some place. Some place dark and cool. Some where that smelled like harsh cleaners and new plastic.

Hospital. Kakashi.

"Almost there." Jiraya whispered in his ear. "Just keep it up a little longer.

He nodded with a pain filled moan. From deep with in he could feel the Raccoon starting to fidget. Opening his eyes he looked for Sakura. She was still there, still dead on her feet. Still following him. Still on his side, his team.

His team had taken such a beating.

"Kakashi." He looked up at Jiraya. "Is he OK?"

He felt the Sanin falter in his steps. The joy filled eyes clouded over. "We are almost to the surgery ward."

"Pervy sage." He took a breath, trying to level out the pain long enough to get an answer. "Is he OK?"

When Jiraya didn't answer Naruto shifted, trying to pull away. "Let me down!"

The Sanin's grip intensified ten fold. "Easy, Brat." He soothed, but some of the enthusiasm was gone.

"Sakura." He twisted, still pulling, and pushed the pain to the back of his mind with all of his remaining mental prowess. "Kakashi. . ."

She looked at him and nodded. "I'll go. . ." Tsunade grabbed her and held her tight.

"Stay with us. I'll need what you know of Naruto's condition while I operate."

Sakura looked up, eyes darkening. "What about Kakashi?"

The heavy ominous silence that fell made Naruto's stomach clench and Sakura's eyes smolder. Finally Jiraya spoke. "He's out of the hospital and will be summoned as soon as the operation is over."

Uneasy Naruto settled back down, letting him self relax. Out of the hospital! He was OK. He took in a sketchy, shaking breath, and closed his eyes. "OK, well, lets get this over with then!" He grit his teeth. "Because. . . Because I need him. He's the only one who can. . ." A sea of red and yellow flashed through his mind as the beasts started to react to his pain. "Who can help me!"

"You are The One, Naruto." Jiraya breathed. "You are the only one who can help _us_." The Sanin's grip tightened again,though not in a restraining way. It was another hug. A clingy, needy, hug. "The only one who can help _him_."

Naruto wanted to know what in the hell all of that 'The One' stuff meant, but another wash of rage red and terror yellow mixed in with the white hot agony. His disguise slipped and he let out another moan. Moments latter he was lowered on to a steel table and some one was removing his cloths. Weakly he opened his eyes and looked for his team mate.

Sakura was there, close, her hand slipping over his wrist and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Not alone. He shuddered and closed his eyes. At least he was not alone. He'd die alone, but he wasn't alone. He closed his eyes again. Fearful, yes, but he believed in her. His Sakura, his team mate, his medic.

And even better was that she believed in him right back.

…...

_To my dear friend and companion, Danzo,_

_As you may well know I have not only taken my leave from the committee, but from the position of Hokage it's self. I am weary, my friend, of the battles and the wars. I step down, not as one who is abandoning the need to find peace, but as one who is passing on the torch to the next generation. _

_As to the experiments that were agreed on I am afraid that they have come to a permanent end. What we have tried once with out success will not succeed in any future capacity, no matter how many attempts we make towards the contrary. Minato him self has agreed regarding this position in logic. Not only that but he will from hence forth no longer be available for your unsuccessful attempts to use him as the conduit for your weapon of peace. He is, from this week on, to be the fourth Hokage._

_Along with his new found position, my friend, he is also in the possession of an ever growing family. There fore, as you must agree, for the time being, there can be no more research done with him in regard to this matter. You must also agree that the future from this point forward is in his hands, and the hands of his yet unborn child. The future will move on with out us, and I for one welcome the reprieve._

_Your ever loyal friend, Saratobi, the former Hokage of Konoha._

_

* * *

_

I'd like to note that the song '_I'd Come For You_' by Nickleback is PERFECT Guy/Kakashi song._  
_


	24. Black ice Part Three

I am still alive! YAY for me! *Ahem* Just another instalment of Sasuke's Side adventure, but I feel like I'm getting his character to work for me and my future plans for him. I hope you like this chapter and can forgive me for not uploading in a long while, the end of 2010 was not a whole lot of fun for me, BUT a new year is here. . . and a new chapter.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Sasuke. . ."

Green was dancing every where above him. Silver leaf underbellies sparkled in the crisp clear Fire Country air.

"Sasuke. . . Do you remember what I told you?"

He shifted and looked up at the woman smiling down at him.

"'Bout what, mother?"

"About the forest."

He shook his head. "No."

The smile faded a little. "You have to remember, Sasuke. It's important that what ever you do you never forget." She looked up and pointed to the tree tops. "Do you see all of those leaves?"

"Yeah." He stretched his neck as he looked up. "What about them?" The sun sparkled through the leaves and he squinted. It was one of his most favorite things to look at, the light coming through the canopy.

"You have to remember, Sasuke." He looked over at her. She was fading. The whole world was fading. The soft grass under him was becoming hard. "Mother?" His hands were bound and stretched out away from his body. The leaves above him darked and turned to lime stone.

Silver ribbons of light, reflected off of the water from the river, danced over the damp stone.

Sasuke took a slow breath as pain washed over him from deep with in his shoulder. He was lying on his back with his hands and feet bound to pillars, each limb pulled tight individualy. He tugged at his right arm and found that the binds were made of soft animal hide rather than chains. This was a make shift binding, and one that would not cut in to his arms if he struggled. Had he any chakra left it would have been easy to brake the strap, but weak as he was it may as well have been metal. He could not pull free.

Glancing around he saw the room was not large, but it only had three walls. The stone floor spread out to his left and dropped in to the river in a series of steps. Beyond the river the jungle sprawled thick and dark in the night air. Beyond that, just through the tops of the trees, he could see the moon nesting in the abundant foliage of the canopy. The trees swayed and he could hear the soft breath sounds of the wind playing with the jungle out side.

He tugged at his restraints again, but could free him self. Exhausted he closed his eyes and tried to build up some strength in just one limb.

Just for a moment, with his eyes closed as they were, he could hear the Land of Fire's leaves in the whispering winds. Foot steps pulled him to his captive reality and he readied him self for what ever would come.

A teen not much older than him self stepped in to view and peered down at him. His face was pail and his hair was white. He was dripping wet.

"Ah, you are finally awake." Two rows of shark's teeth lined his mouth.

Sasuke glared. "If you intend to get the secrets of Orochimaru from me you'll waist your time. I'll die first."

"Well." The white haired youth crouched down next to him. "It's a very good thing for you I have absolutely NO interest in any thing relating to Orochimaru." He pulled a broken blade from a hilt on his hip and Sasuke immediately recognised it as his own. He glowered at the blunted blade, knowing that it would be all to easy for the other teen to torment him with his very own weapon.

In stead of cutting him, however, the youth grinned and cut Sasuke's left foot free. "You had an awful fever." He cut the other one free. "You nearly tossed your self in to the river three times. I finally had to tie you down." He reached up and cut Sasuke's left hand free. "And that hell-cat you have with you. . ." He grinned even wider, making him look like a well pleased barracuda. ". . . I almost had to tie her up to keep her from worrying her self sick over you." He leaned back and looked down, his dripping bangs falling in to his eyes. "How you feeling now? No thoughts of going for a swim right?"

Sasuke rolled and unbound his other wrist before sitting up stiffly. "Where is the girl?"

"Not much for small talk, are you?" He scooted back and tossed his head to clear his eyes. "Had to lock her in another room so she would sleep." He held up the broken lightning sword. "This is yours. I have the other end of it. Real shame it broke." He swiveled it so the hilt was facing Sasuke. "Useless to a water user like me, but still, it was an excellent blade. I should know, I collect them."

"Water user. . . Swords. . ." A memory coalesced in Sasuke's tired mind from all of the snippets of information coming from the teen next to him. "You are Hozuki Suigetsu."

The teen fairly beamed at the statement. "Ah, you have heard of me!"

Slowly Sasuke took his offered sword. "Yes. You were high on the list of projects Orochimaru was interested in."

Suigetsu's face fell instantly. "Please, for my sanity, confirm to me that horrible creature is_ dead_."

Sasuke nodded. "He is."

Suigetsu let out a long breath and dipped his head. "Thank my lucky stars. He's _dead_!" He shook his head a little, causing watter drops to scatter like a little rain shower. "Dead. He's dead."

Sasuke pulled him self to his feet stiffly and winced as pain flared up in his shoulder. "Yes, he's dead. Now bring me the red head girl."

Suigetsu looked up with a small frown. "You're not my boss."

Sasuke turned his dark eyes down and forced all of the killing intent he could in to the look. With out chakra to back it up, however, he could tell it was lacking the punch he wanted it to have.

"What's with the face?" Suigetsu stood and dusted him self off, though instead of dust watter slicked away. "I saved you. You owe me a favor."

"You tried to drown me." Sasuke growled. "A favor would be you saving my life from a hoard of undead mutants."

"I sort of did." Suigetsu grinned a little again. He trust his thumb over his shoulder. "They are still looking for you, you know. And besides, I only tried to knock you out, not drown you. It's not like I didn't know who you were and was going to kill and eat you." His grin spread to a ridiculous width, showing off all of his razor sharp teeth.

Sasuke stepped back and clutched his broken sword a little tighter. "Eat me?"

"Oh, did I say that out loud?" The other teen held his palms up. "I don't eat people."

Sasuke stepped back a little more.

"Look." Suigetsu spread his fingers wide and bowed just a little in a gesture of peace. "I just want one thing from you, then you are free to go."

"You can not keep me here." Sasuke lifted his broken blade in warning.

A flicker of energy rippled from the white haired teen. "Do you honestly think you can fight me with that? I have trained under the seven swords men of the Mist. And. . ." His body was suddenly gone in a movement to fast for Sasuke's eyes to follow. Suigetsu appeared behind him and snapped one arm around Sasuke's throat. The white haired teen trust his fingernails in to the ragged curse mark with the other hand. ". . . you have no chakra. Am I right?"

Sasuke held still, knowing he was at the other youth's mercy. If he kept cool then maybe he could defuse the tension, but he knew fighting would be futile. "What is it you want from me?" He felt Suigetsu's breath come slowly over his neck under his ear.

"I want to know where Momochi Zabuza's sword is." His nails dug a little deeper causing pain to erupt from the seal. Sasuke sucked in a breath and screwed his eyes shut against the sudden searing agony. Suigetsu pulled his nails back and, gently, rested the tips of his fingers over the mark. He waited patiently as Sasuke fought to catch his breath. "Sorry, it just has me so. . . excited. . ."

Sasuke gulped at the air. "The girl first. Then I will consider telling you."

"Consider. . ."

"If you kill me I _can not_ tell you. If you do not do as I tell you I _will not_ tell you." Sasuke hissed.

The arms slid away from him, like a brook skimming over rocks. "Very well. I'll bring the hell-cat."

Sasuke turned and watched as Suigetsu backed away looking a touch agitated. "But remember this, once she is free, she is YOUR problem."

A splash from the river pulled Sasuke's attention to the water. Two water clones ascended the steps, one holding a strange looking blade. "What is that?"

"It's a very sharp, very useful, key." The other teen answered.

"A key-sword?" Sasuke's brow quirked, even as his shoulder continued to radiate pain. He reached back and rubbed it, not caring if the other teen saw the little act of weakness. He already knew about the seal any way.

Suigetsu stepped up next to him and shrugged. "It's kind of neat. I can unlock special seals I set up, or I can unlock people's deaths with it."

Sasuke turned and stared at the youth next to him.

"What?"

The clones passed them, the one with the ugly key-sword swinging it with expert form. Sasuke frowned. Even these clones could probably kill him with ease at the moment. Ugly key-sword or no. The clones had disappeared in to a hall way leading deeper in to the water temple and moments latter an explosion of high-pitched screeches and curses filled the air.

Suigetsu grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders and thrust him towards the hallway. "She's all yours."

The first clone backed out of the hall holding the blade up defensively. The second came out, dragging Karin with it. She was thrashing and writing in it's grip. Her clothing was even more tattered than it had been. Her top was holding on by a knot over one shoulder. The lower half of her dress had torn away completely and been tied around her waist carefully. As she thrashed it all threatened to come loose.

Sasuke couldn't help but suck in a breath and take quick stalk of what he had on. His pants were all that was left, but they were tattered up to mid thigh. One pant leg was half gone from where he'd been sliced in the outer thigh.

He looked back up as he heard metal hit stone. Karin had kicked the blade from the clone and sent it flying in to a wall. "UN HAND ME!"

Sasuke tore out of Suigetsu's grip and stepped up to the clone that had formerly possessed the blade. "Stand down!"

"Sasuke!" She stilled and started, her anger vanishing in to a muted shock. The second clone let her go and stepped back.

Sasuke looked her over carefully with a critical eye. The further degeneration of her clothing worried him more than he would dare to admit. "Did he . . . touch you?"

She shook her hear just a little, her green eyes still fixed on him. "N-no."

"Hey!" Suigetsu yelped. "I'm not that kind of person!" Sasuke ignored him.

"Are you fit to travel?"

"I am." She hugged one arm over her chest self consciously. "But you. . ."

"I'm fine."

"Lier." Sugitsu called.

Sasuke turned towards the white haired teen. "How many men are after me?"

Suigetsu frowned. He was caressing the key-sword as he pouted. "How could you accuse me of being a cad?" He looked up, indignant. "What sort of person do you take me for any way?"

Sasuke turned fully towards him. At the same moment he felt Karin step closer to him. "How many are after me?"

"A hundred, maybe more. That's as many as I could guess for near here." He lowered the blade and looked up, still stung. "But you know all of Orochimaru's men will be on the look out for you now. We all know you wanted to kill him. Even if you didn't that's what every one will believe."

"I didn't kill him." Sasuke said flatly. "What's the quickest way to the next lab?"

Suigetsu fingered the sharp edge of the blade. "All the labs with in a hundred miles are gone now. The have either been burned or demolished by the creatures in side of them."

"What about the River Cube lab? Where my father and I were?" Karin asked hesitantly.

"Gone. Burned." Suigetsu set the blade aside and looked up at them with dark eyes. "The closest lab that I know of is at the other end of Sound Country. And I'll bet even that is gone."

Sasuke felt his hope falter a little. "There has to be some thing still standing out there."

He felt Karin's warm fingers slide over his naked shoulder. "We'll look every where, Sasuke. We'll find some thing." The touch was surprisingly soothing, even though the bone beneath the skin was throbbing. He had to fight the urge not to reach up and touch her warm fingers with his cold ones.

"Yes. We'll find some thing." He managed. To his surprise he heard a tone in his voice he hadn't heard in a long time.

"What are you looking for?" Suigetsu asked. "I have a lot of connections. Now that every one is free weapons are in high demand. I can trade a blade for almost any scrap of information you want."

"This does not concern you." Karin replied haughtily.

"Oh come now, hell-cat." Suigetsu's eyes narrowed. "I know very well that it has to have some thing to do with that cursed mark." He jabbed a finger towards Sasuke. "It's not hard to figure you want some sot of cure."

Sasuke leveled his eyes on the other teen. While the white haired youth had the capacity to kill him, he had so far shown no real will to do so. All he wanted was Zebuza's sword, Sasuke was sure of it. "Do you know who Jugo is?"

Suigustu's eyes widened. "Jugo? The insane man eating Jugo? _That Jugo_?"

"The one and the same." Sasuke replied with a short nod.

"Yes." He stepped back a little, visibly shrinking in on him self. "I know where he is. He's been captured by the brother of the Mist Jinchuriki, Lord Utakata."

"What's the brother's name?" Sasuke stepped towards the other teen, taking advantage of his fear.

"Shimo." Suigetsu replied, stepping back again. "You can't honestly want to go there. . .?" He shook his head. "FOR Jugo?"

Karin stepped up next to Sasuke. "I can fix the cursed seal with Jugo's blood. With out it Sasuke will die."

Sasuke winced inwardly at the words. "Tell me where he is."

"Do you know where the cave of Black Ice is?" He asked, almost hunched over now.

"No." Sasuke replied. "Tell me how to get there."

"Oh no way. . ."

"Tell me and I'll give you the information you want. I'll tell you where Zebuza's sword, the Kubikiri Hōchō, is."

Suigetsu chewed his lower lip for a moment, thinking. "Telling you won't be enough, you have to _**KNOW**_ the way." He argued. "You can only find the place if you have already been there. I've been there."

"All I want to to know where he is." Sasuke replied darkly. "Or I can leave now." He took Karin's wrist and started to walk towards the steps that descended in to the river. She did not offer any protest.

"I'll take you there." Suigetsu straightened a little. "Just. . . just tell me where the sword is first."

"You are from the land of mist right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes." Suigetsu nodded.

"I don't trust the people of the mist." Sasuke continued to walk on. "You can show me first, then I'll tell you where the sword you want is."

"Stop." Suigetsu rushed between Sasuke and the stairs. "You'll never survive out there with out chakra. Those things will rip you apart! And the hell-cat. . ."

She glared at him.

". . . I may not be a pervert, but do you think they will leave her alone?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Then take me there if you are so worried about us."

"I am not worried about you." The ten argued. "Just. . . if you die the sword. . . I _need_ it."

"Why?" Karin asked.

"I promised. . ." Darkness gathered in his auqa eyes. "My brother. . ." His fists clenched a little.

Karin pulled out of Sasuke's hand and tilted her hips. A memory of women from the Village Hidden In The Leaves floated up in his mind. This was meant to be coy. A move to entice information or actions from men. He quirked his brow and held silent.

"What about your brother?" Sasuke could see the shape of her back through the limp tattered fabric. His eyes rolled down before he caught him self. Stubbornly he fixed his eyes on the white haired teen in front of him.

"I think they murdered him." His lower lip twitched.

"Who?" She asked softly. Her hips were swaying a little.

"Lord Utakata and his hunters." His brows crushed together. "We defected. We were going to train to be members of the Seven Swords men of the Mist, but we defected. We _HAD_ to." He shook his head. His hair was starting to dry. "Lord Utakata will ruin the Mist land. He'll kill us all." He looked up with dark, _dark_, eyes. "He's mad. Insane. Crazy. He killed my brother." The last sentence was uttered in a near whisper.

"So. . . You want the sword. . . because it was going to be your brother's?" Karin asked.

"I want it, and all of the swords of the mist. I already have one. If I have them all. . ." His voice trailed off and he looked away. "With all of them I can avenge my brother. I don't know how but I WILL kill Lord Utakata."

"You can not kill a Jinchuriki." Sasuke argued. "My former team mate is a Jinchuriki. He's stupid and weak, but next to you he's an army. An indestructible force."

"I could kill him." Suigetsu said darkly.

"He is the one who killed Orochimaru."

Suigetsu's eyes widened in shock. "Orochimaru?" He turned away and swiped the palm of his hand over his open mouth, aghast, shocked. _Frightened_.

"Will you take us to the Cave of Black Ice?" Karin asked, softly, leaning in, soothing.

Suigetsu turned and stared at her. His eyes swept down quickly, not in a leering way, but assessing the level of danger from her proximity. When his eyes rolled back up and met hers his shoulders deflated. "I need that sword."

"If you take us to the cave I will tell you where the sword was left." Sasuke pressed.

Reluctantly the teen nodded. "OK. I'll take you." He straightened and gave Sasuke a dower, grim, look. "But I will not fight for you."

Karin smiled. "We wouldn't ask you too." She was twisting at the waist just a little, back and forth, while playing with her hair. "We just need to get to Jugo, that's all."

This time Suigetsu's eyes took her in with less hesitation.

Sasuke brushed past him, once more snatching up Karin's wrist, and pulling her on. "lets go."

"N-now?" Suigetstu scrambled to fall in to step with them. "Shouldn't we eat first?"

"No."

"What about sleep? I know you need more rest Sasuke."

"No."

"What about weapons?"

"I have my blade." Sasuke reached out and snatched his sword's sheath from Suigetsu's hip. "Where's the end of it?"

"Hidden." He replied. Then he smiled a little. "We should go get it before. . ."

"No."

"But. . ."

"No." Sasuke stepped out of the temple and set his bare feet on the first step leading in to the river.

"Is it cold?" Karin asked.

Suigetsu stepped around them and hopped down the steps in to the river. "It's not cold, do you want to get all wet in that out fit?" He grinned up at her.

She glowered down at him and lifted her free hand in a fist. He tossed his hands up in a pacifying gesture. "All I'm asking is if you want me to carry you. You don't HAVE to get wet."

He turned and waved his hand over the water. A round liquid platform lifted a little. "Go ahead, step on it, you won't sink."

She glanced up at Sasuke who nodded. Carefully she stepped on to the solid water. "It's warm."

"Well it's not ice. I don't do ice." Suigetsu smiled. "Sasuke?"

He stepped out and found his foot was held aloft by a thin skin of Suigetsu's chakra. It _was_ warm.

"Off we go!" He dove in to the watter and the disk pulled forward. Karin lost balance and grabbed at the air. Sasuke steadied her before she could fall and in return she wrapped her arms around him. She held still for a moment before looking up wide eyed.

"S-sorry."

"Hn." He grunted, his eyes taking in both her eyes and her chest that was pressed up against his. He couldn't help seeing it the way she was angled under him.

"Do you two want some privacy?" Suigetsu called almost sing song.

Karin straightened up and, after reaching in to her scant top, plucked out her glasses. She snapped them open and put them on with a snort.

"You had better keep your mind on steering this thing properly!" She huffed.

"Don't worry, I won't get you wet, little hell-cat."

Sasuke swallowed the urge to grumble '_children, stop_'. Instead he closed his eyes and rubbed at his temple.

"_Sasuke. . . Do you remember what I told you?"_

"_'Bout what, mother?"_

"_About the forest."_

"_No."_

"Sasuke?"

He opened his eyes. "Karin?" He shook his head a little when he realised his hair was limp in his face. Even his hair now seemed to be weakening. The cow lick that he was, supposedly according to the late Orochimaru, famous for, had fallen limp. His hair, normally in tight clusters, was stringy and lack luster.

"Does it hurt right now?" She looked concerned.

"I'll be fine."

The water platform thunked against the opposite shore, upsetting Karin's balance once more. She clung and Sasuke held still, letting her. She was warm, despite her tattered cloths.

"I'll scout ahead." Suigetsu said, pulling them on to the shore with a little wave. After that they were on damp soil. "If there is any one out there then I can take us down river."

Sasuke looked over at the white haired teen as Karin pulled away, eyes narrowing. "What is the quickest way to the Cave of Black Ice?"

Suigetsu touched his chin in thought for a moment. "It depends, really, on a number of factors. Over the ground is the fastest way, normally. The river takes a turn away from our destination a few miles down, but then runs straight. If there are sub-humans out there, wanting blood, then over land, for now, may be impossible."

Sasuke scowled and flexed his shoulder. The pain was still sharp. "How long will the water rout take?"

Suigetsu wrung out his ear. "A couple of days." he glanced at Kerin. "How long do you think Sasuke has?"

The red head pressed her lips together in a little pout. "I don't know for sure. All the cases I have seen have been dead in a few hours, or days. But they weren't Sasuke. They were trash for Orochimaru to toy with."

"Trash." Suigetsu's eyes glossed for a moment before he shivered. "Sasuke was his favorite."

Sasuke spread his lips to argue, but hesitated. Suigetsu was shaking his head slowly, looking ahead with out seeing. With out being aware of the surroundings.

"We'll keep to the river." He said, sharply. The white haired teen's attention snapped back in to focus.

"Opting to take the path of least resistance?" He asked.

"Its where you will be most effective in defending me." Sasuke replied, practical. He waved his hand in a sweeping motion out over the watery vista. "This river is our best chance. I know what you can do in a body of water like this." He lowered his arm and turned back towards Suigetsu. "I will use every advantage I have."

The teen tapped his chin again. "We'll need a boat. I can't hold you up for days on end."

Sasuke turned to Karin. "Do you know where any one might have kept boats near here?"

She nodded and glanced out towards the jungle. "I think so."

"Lead on, then, oh hell-cat." Suigetsu grinned.

She tossed her hair as she turned away from them both. "Fine. Follow me."

…...

Darkness shrouded the world, blackening the jungle in to a formless void of sounds and mist. The boat, a thin wooden craft made for fishing, slid along the water with out a sound. Suigetsu was standing in the back, his arms stretched out over the water, bidding it to move them silently along.

The mist rolled over the water as phantom shapes glided to and fro around them. Some shapes glinted with eyes shine, others with fangs.

"Do you think this place is haunted?" Kerin whispered after some time in silence had passed.

Sasuke glanced back at her, his lips drawn thin and tight in pain. "No. Not with the dead, any way."

She frowned and looked around, wide eyed and fearful. Then she turned her attention to him and frowned, willingly distracted from the world around her. "You're in pain."

"It's manageable."

She slid forward on her knees and hesitantly reached out towards his shoulder. "Please. . . let me?"

He brushed her hand away. "Don't waist your energy on me. We may have to fight."

Suigetsu glanced back, sporting a frown of his own. "Let her. She can fight, sure, but you can fight better than she can, even with out chakra."

Sasuke glared up at the sword collector turned guide. He opened his mouth to protest, but Kerin cut him off.

"Please Sasuke. You don't have to suffer." She tucked some damp red hair back and inched a little closer.

Sasuke glanced between them, and let his eyes rest on her offered hand. For a long moment he stood, frowning down at her, his eyes taking in her bedraggled appearance. "You shouldn't care about other people if you want to survive."

"I don't want to survive if there's nothing worth surviving for." She replied, and stood slowly. She inched her hand closer.

He took a step back and hit the edge of the boat. Unable to move away any further he closed his eyes and relented. Her fingertips were warm, and soft. Energy flowed in to his shoulder like spring waters thawing a frozen landscape. He took a slow breath and held it, savoring the painless moment.

Some thing troubled the water, making it splash near the shore. Eyes still closed Sasuke strained to hear what the disturbance was. The boat rocked a little and he could feel it slowing. Karin took a sharp breath and pulled her hands away.

"Some thing is coming." She whispered, sropping back down stiffly.

Sasuke opened his eyes , but did not look up. "I want you both to get low."

Suigetstu stepped away from the rear of the boat and knelt next to Karin. "There are four, maybe five, in the water. I can chase them off."

"No, if they are the only ones who know where we are then we have to kill them before they can alert others."

Karin curled up and bit the tips of her nails. Sasuke glanced down and, feeling his heart skip a beat at her shivering frame, skimmed his finger tips over the crest of her head. "This is not a problem."

She looked up and swallowed. "They will kill you."

"We won't let them." Suigetsu offered her a wain smile. "Get ready. . ."

Small bubbles appeared at each side of the boat.

Sasuke pulled his blunted blade free and lifted it high. "I'll take starboard, if you take port."

Suigetsu nodded and stood.

There was one fleetling moment of silence left, then water erupted all around them. Karin screamed as dirty clawed hands emerged from the towering waves. Sasuke slashed at the limbs while Suigetsu pulled the water back down and crushed one of the assailants.

One meaty fist grabbed karin's hair and pulled hard. She screamed again and thrust back roughtly with a ball of chakra. One hand let go, but the other held tight. Sasuke turned from his own fight and grabbed her. He pulled her close and cut her hair short under the fist.

"Stay in the middle of the boat, between us!" He snarled, then thrust back at another grabbing arm.

Suigetsu grunted and pulled the water down again. "Sasuke, I don't know. . ." He hissed between his razor sharp teeth.

Sasuke looked around at the waves that were reaching up and holding still over their heads. "If I had Chidori . . ." He growled.

Karin pulled her knees in and tuched her self in tight behind his legs. "Why don't they just drown us?"

"They want us alive." Suigetsu huffed. "Or, one of us, any way." He turned and looked back as Sasuke. "Don't worry I'll. . ."

"Don't offer me something you can't give." He slashed at another hand.

"Awe, you don't trust us yet, do you?" He pulled at the water, but it refused to yield to him. Sasuke could hear heavy drips landing at the white haired teen's feet.

"I trust Karin's feminine instinct is to keep others around her to protect her." Sasuke trust his sword in to one fleshy wrist and smirked as blood gushed from it. "And I trust you will do any thing to get the swords of the Seven Mist, or die trying."

"Heh." Suigetsu huffed. "Yes, that IS my goal. But, you know. . ." The boat rocked and he hissed again. "There's more to life than my revenge, for me."

Karin pressed hard in to the back of Sasuke's legs. "I don't care what you think of me." She looked up, every one knows you were to over come Orochimaru, or die trying. I. . . I had hoped to meet you. . ."

Sasuke slashed at another set of hands, and glared in to the murky water. "I['m not your savior. I couldn't see past my own revenge." He cast a look back at Suigetsu. The white haired teen was shaking and holding his arms out tight. Again there was a drip at his feet. Sasuke glanced down and saw no water on the boards of the boat, but blood.

Karin was still shaking behind his knees, eyes wide.

"I was never strong enough to do the right thing when it mattered. To see underneath the underneath."

Suigetsu glanced back. "What it that supposed to mean?"

"It'll take to long to explain, I'll have to show you." Sasuke bit the blunted blade and set a foot on the boats edge.

"Sasuke NO!" Karin gripped tight but he pulled free and trust hard in to the water. All at once he felt the water crushing his wrists and his ankles, binding him tight. Horrid ghoulish figured swarmed him, eyes beady and teeth sharp. He looked back up at the boat and was mildly relieved to see it was no longer being harassed.

…...

"SASUKE!" Karin gripped the edge of the boat and peered down in to the water.

Suigetsu slumped to his knees and breathed ragged gasps. "I can feel him, he's OK, for now."

She looked back, eyes cold like jade. "Do some thing."

He turned to her, his hands gripping a cut along his stomach. "I can't."

She bit at her lip and studied the wound. "I can fix that, but then you have to DO some thing."

He nodded and pulled his hands away. She scooted over to him and pressed her palms in to tattered flesh. With a moan she pulled the damage from his body in to hers.

"Hey. . . Don't. . ." He protested, but she ignored him. Pulling the pain from him she brought as much of it as she could into her own body, then pulled away to let her self heal. It was a horrible deep cut that chewed on bones and riped into deep flesh, but there was nothing vital harmed.

"You don't know how deep that is!" He grabbed her shoulders and pressed her down, eyes filling with worry. "What if it hit the liver or some thing?"

"Save Sasuke." She closed her eyes. "I'll be OK."

"Stupid Hell-cat." He growled. "I'll be back, but so help me if I find you dead. . ."

"Go." She smiled. "I'll be alright."

…...

Sasuke kicked and thrashed, but the water was tight around his limbs. He was dragged to the surface and trust high in to the air, where he gasped to fill his lungs, before being dragged back under. The creatures skimmed close to him, but would not look at him directly.

Minions, all of them, he could tell. This was not a random attack, but planned.

He struggled again, while clenching his teeth down hard on to his blade. But all he managed to do was use up his air. Once more he was thrust high. This time he was held aloft for several moments longer, and the water held eerily still around him.

He twisted around to look down, and saw a white glimmer deep below. The creatures swam around in a large circle, then dove. Instantly the water started to churn and turn to scarlet. Monsters bobbed up to the surface before being dragged back down. One limb was freed from the invisible bonds and Sasuke grabbed his sword. Swinging around he thrust it deep in to the nearest living thing. It let out a gurgled scream and sank.

Two limbs no free Sasuke kicked at a body to propell him self towards another monster. He slashed out only to have his hand grabbed. The meaty fist clamped down, crushing. Sasuke growled and winced against the bone shattering pain as his hand went lax. The sword dropped and he was pulled free of the water. Dangling he kicked out, but the beast grabbed his foot and started to crush that too.

In pain and rage he screamed and kicked the monster's jaw, shattering it. He was dropped instantly and slammed hard in to the water. The beast held it's jaw for a moment as he cradled his own wrist. For a moment neither could move, then the beast shook it's self back to it's senses. It gripped it's hands together, making a wrecking-ball of a fist, and held it high to strike.

Sasuke tried to shake the pain off, but couldn't. He closed his eyes, preparing for the blow that he was sure to kill him. He felt the blow and the roar, but muted some how. He felt him self being slammed deep in to the water, then claws were ripping in to his skin. Daring his eyes open he saw rows and rows of daggered teeth reaching for his stomach. Curling he closed hie eyes again.

There were endless moments of painful darkness, but nothing more came his way. He bobbed back to the surface and peeled his eyes open with a ragged gasp. Strong hands lifted his head and shoulders up and the worried eyes of Suigetsu gazed down at him.

"I don't think I like it when you _demonstrate_ your weird ass sayings. Next time, just tell me what you mean, OK?"

Sasuke stared up at the other teen, then he felt him self smiling. "OK." He nodded.

Water splashed behind them and Sasuke braced him self for another attack. Suigetsu grinned, however, and called out.

"HELL-CAT! You made it!"

Sasuke turned and saw that Karin was paddling quickly towards them. He relaxed and let him self be pulled towards the approaching boat.

"You lived. I have no idea why I'm happy about that!" Suigetsu gripped the boat and looked up in to the green eyes fondly.

Sasuke forced him self to move, to reach back and gripped the wood with his good hand. "Lived? You healed Suigetsu. . ."

He looked the white haired teen over. "You just fought them all off, but in the boat, you couldn't." He blinked and let his head rest against the wood, thinking through the fog gathering in his mind. "Bad wound?"

"Yeah it was this. . ." Suigetsu started, Karin cut him off.

"It was nothing. Easy to fix. My hair however. . ."

Sasuke looked up at her and winced. Her hair was hanging in little wisps by her cheeks, but other then that it was cropped nearly to the skin. "That thing almost had you." He said, defending him self. A quick memory of Saskura cutting her own hair flashed in to his mind. He wasn't sure how this related to that moment, but he was sure it did, some how.

Women were all crazy about their hair, if he remembered correctly.

"It'll grown back." Suigetsu said as he pulled him self in to the boat. "Besides, I think it's cute." He reached out and ruffled the cropped red hair.

"DO NOT DO THAT." She snapped, smacking his hand away. She then reached down and offered a hand to Sasuke. Suigetsu chuckled and offered a hand as well.

Sasuke reached up and was pulled in. Mercifully Suigetsu grabbed below the point where the creature had tried to crush his bones. He landed in a soggy heap on the bottom of the boat and gasped. Pain laced it's way from the seal and both of the abused limbs. Karin knelt next to him, but Suigetsu stopped her.

"Leave it till latter, you need to rest."

She frowned, but nodded after a moment.

Sasuke forced him self to sit up. "I'll be OK."

"Oh, we know." Suigetsu grinned. "You're to crazy to die."

"Crazy?" Sasuke turned and gazed up at the smiling teen.

"Sanity is staying inside the boat when a bunch of water wilding mutants are trying to drag you under."

Sauske glared up. "You were the one who suggested they wanted me alive."

"It's over." Karin said, slumping. "Lets not talk about it."

"All right." Suigetsu waved his hand towards the back of the boat and it lurched forward. A moment of silence followed, filled only with the sound of the wood in the small waves. Karin started to feel her short hair and pluck the overly long stray strands short.

"I lost my sword." Sasuke looked down at his swelling ankle, trying to to stare at the female dripping wet in front of him.

"Did you?" Suigetsu dipped his fingers into the water and bit his lower lip. "Hum." Suddenly he grinned. "Got it."

A moment latter the blunted blade was trust up on a small water jet. Suigetsu plucked it out of the water and offered it to Sasuke. "You know, I could get you a better sword."

Sasuke, eye lids starting to feel heavy, shrugged with his good shoulder. "Why? This one works just fine. Besides, the less stops we make. . ." He bit the sentence off, an uneasy, _mortal_, feeling washing over him.

"We do need to hurry, Suigetsu." Karin said, her voice lowering.

There was a moment of silence where Sasuke could feel them both looking at him. He sighed. "I'll be OK." He said, unsure who he was reassuring. He looked down at his sword for a moment longer before closing his eyes. "Thanks."

"For what?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke waved the sword gently in the air. "And. . . stuff."

"Ah, well, we are a team, you know?" The boat was trust forwards gently again.

"A team." Karin huffed, dejected sounding. "Honestly, you are the last person I would have sided with."

"Hey, I thought you LIKED Sasuke." Suigetsu teased.

"I was talking about you!" She snorted.

Sasuke reached up and rubbed his temple. "_Children_. . . Stop." He dipped his head lower, feeling the exhaustion overcoming him.

Suigetsu chuckled again. "Sleep. We'll be some place safe soon. Then we'll all rest for the night."

Sasuke nodded and curled up on the floor of the boat. He felt Karin come close and touch his neck.

"Don't. . ."

"Not all healing needs chakra, Sasuke." She started to rub.

He fell asleep as the boat rocked forward again with the warm feeling of human contact easing away the pain.


	25. Black ice Part Four

Well, I had a lot of trouble with the ending of this one. I wanted to close out the arc, but not close up the story of Sasuke. I THINK I managed that. Jugo, at last, is added, but not the Jugo we all know and sort of thing "That is the _man eater_?" I hope you all like how I changed him. I sort of made him.. well, you'll see.

Also this is the last part of Black Ice before we get back to Naruto and Co. I will have another 4 part arc coming up with the Akastuki, but not until Naruto and Kakashi... do... some thing.. after Iruka... and then you know.. Guy and Kiba.. and the others... But that's all... *Waves hand* in future updates. For now enjoy this and I HOPE you like it!

Any way, Enjoy!

* * *

"_Sasuke_."

Sasuke looked up through the gold and white mist that filled the woods. Light filtered down gently, giving the whole forest an airy feel. Standing in white, between two grand oaks, Mikoto smiled. "_Sasuke_."

Sasuke stepped back. "Why do you haunt me?" He shuddered. "Why can't you leave me alone!"

She stepped back as well, letting the mist obscure all but her silhouette.

Sasuke reached out, hand trembling slightly. "Wait. . . Mother."

She stepped back a little further and was swallowed up by the mist. A breeze kicked up the leaves then the shroud of fog sifted through the trees.

Sasuke stepped forward, hand still shaking. "Mother! WAIT!"

But the mist was gone. Only the trees stood in place, swaying in the wind. Sasuke took a ragged breath and slumped against one trunk. Dejected he slid down and let his hands drape over his knees. The light danced around him for a moment, before a shadow caught his attention.

Looking up in to the branches he saw one leaf falling towards him.

"_Do you remember what I taught you about the forest?_"

The leaf landed between his feet. Staring at it he shook his head sadly. "You taught me that the forest protected us." He felt heart sick. Alone. "It can't protect any one," he added, bitterly.

The breeze kicked up again and picked the leaf up. He watched it as it floated away. "Why?" He turned his head back down. "Why did you lie to me? Why did Itachi lie to me!" He hugged his knees tight to his chest.

"_Your brother didn't kill your clan, Sasuke."_

He looked up, jaw set tight. "Then where _are _you?"

Leaves swayed, whispering in the soft breeze. "_Remember what I taught you_."

"Mother. . . I. . ."

"Sasuke?" A leaf tickled his nose and he opened his eyes. "Hey, welcome back." Suigetsu smiled. "You were mumbling in your sleep." The sky beyond the teen was vividly blue and void of vegitation.

Sasuke brushed the other teen's hand away, clearing his face of the leaf. Slowly he sat up on his elbows. "What did I say?"

"You were mumbling some thing about trees." Suigetsu held up a leaf. It looked a LOT like the one that had floated around in Sasuke's dream. "Thought this might wake you up in a way that wouldn't get my face punched in."

Sasuke reached out for the leaf and Suigetsu gave it to him. It was a small, some what silver green, and very soft.

For the last five days they had traveled, after the incident on the river, never stopping for more than a couple of hours to rest. At one point they found a village and, because they had no money, they stole supplies. The act made Sasuke feel dirty in a way he didn't like and secretly to him self he swore he'd pay the village back. Then, on the fourth day, they had left the water and the jungle behind, and entered a large, dry, volcanic waist land.

"Where did you find a leaf like this?" Sasuke asked, sitting all the way up.

"I don't know, it just sort of floated here. Wind and water can carry stuff a long way, you know." Suigetsu stood and placed a hand on his hip. "Hell-Cat is making food, or, well, more honestly, burning the last of our edible supplies. You hungry?"

Sasuke glanced up from his leaf. "I don't know, you just make it sound oh so appetizing." He gave a flat humorless smile.

"You can all ways eat your leaf." Suigetsu said with a shrug.

Sasuke stretched and stood, tucking the leaf behind his ear. His hair was entirely limp now, making him look perpetually like a drown rat in his own eyes. Even worse was the flare of black along his shoulder from the cursed seal. It was spreading like a cancer now, eating up part of his arm and back. Thanks to Karin, however, it didn't hurt. When ever he started to feel stiff she'd drop what ever she was doing and rub the knots out. Sasuke had stopped protesting the kind act on day two when she'd hit him with a paralyzing charka blast to keep him compliant.

Besides that it was. . .

"You boys coming or do I have to eat all of this my self?" Karin's voice cracked through the air like lighting.

. . . Nice.

"We are coming!" Suigetsu called back. He shook his head a little. "That woman. . . I'm glad she and I are on your side. I hate to think of what she could do if she was against one of us."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and started to pick his way over the brown ropes of cooled lava rock. "She might nag one of us to death."

Suigetsu snickered. "O man, don't let her hear you say that or it will come true."

Sasuke Ignored him and continued towards the fire pit they had built the night before. It was near two volcanic smoking vents to ensure the camp smoke would be lost in the other emissions, but he had still insisted on the sleeping arias be far from the cooking aria, just in case. Even all the way out here in the no-man's lands between countries Orochimaru's mutants would surely be lurking.

He pushed those thoughts from his head as he stepped in to the cooking aria and spotted Karin. Gone were the rags and the long strand of hair, in their place a short crop of startling red and a simple green ranger's tunic and tights. On her waist was a belt with a number of medical tools and on her feet a pair of spiked rock climbing boots.

Sasuke him self had new cloths. Like Karin he too had on a simple green ranger outfit, but on his belt he had his broken blade.

The change had been a relief to them both, he knew, as the more she had insisted on treating his shoulder with physical contact the more _enticing_ it became for them to touch. Distracting. Inviting.

"You finally woke up." She tossed over her shoulder.

Both of them knew it was and inviting distraction that would get them killed.

"Yeah." He scratched at his limp hair. "You. . . um. . . it smells good. . ." He sighed. For the last three years 'polite conversations' had not been part of his day to day ritual. Over the last couple of days he realised that he felt like some sort of untrained mut cast out of a pound. He did NOT like the feeling any more than he liked the compulsive 'caressing' feelings every time Karin had rubbed his aching back. It was all out of place and strange and uncomfortable.

She turned fully towards him and smiled. "Thank you. Suigetsu said it smelled like the volcano cooked it."

As if taking the words as a que the white haired teen appeared next to her. "Hey. . . Cougar want some cat nip?" He flashed a row of sharp teeth in a sultry grin.

She lifted a fist.

Sasuke eyed the white haired teen with hidden relief. Only Suigetsu had broken that clutching desire between him self and the red head medic.

The Mist teen backed away slowly, a leg of some roasted animal in hand. "Maybe latter." He vanished again, still grinning.

"I'll be glad when he leaves us." She huffed, then started to dish up two plates of food. "How hungry do you feel?"

Sasuke stepped up to the fire and looked after where Suigetsu had disappeared to. "A bit." He mumbled. A twist of anxiety rolled through him at the thought of the other teen departing. Though in reality, not the wishy-washy world of feeling he was positive would get them all killed, no one had the right to ask Suigetsu to endanger his life for some thing that would not directly benefit him.

Sasuke pushed all of the feelings to the back of his mind with the relative ease his experience, and newly acquired clothing, a lotted him.

Karin lifted the plate to him. "You have a leaf in your hair."

He took the plate with one hand and touched the leaf with the other. "Oh, Suigetsu gave it to me."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I don't know." He ground out, honest and, some what to his own surprise, irritated by the question.

Karin rolled her eyes. "What ever."

Suigetsu popped back in to view and held the stripped bone up before them. "Ah, that was edible, I'm pleasantly surprised at you this time, hell-cat."

Karin turned towards him and leveled her gaze. "Is that a complement, or some sort of over all insult?"

He grinned and sat down. "How should I know?" He tossed the bone as hard as he could towards an empty place in the rocks. "As soon as you two are done we can get moving again."

"How far away are we?" Sasuke asked, again glad for the distraction from the tension radiating from Karin.

"Well." Suigetsu leaned over backwards and pointed towards a peek that had been perpetually covered in a dark cloud. "See that mountain? That is the volcano I can take you too." He sat back up. "I know of a secret passage where the water runs in to it. That's why it smokes so much, because of the river that goes IN to the volcano. See, it's not very tall, and a lot of older volcanoes have died around it and gathered snow. When the snow melts it runs down hill and forms this river. . ."

"We know how mountain thaw works." Karin grumbled.

Suigetsu ignored her. "The river runs right in to this crack in the rock where every thing becomes really black, and smooth. The Mist Ninja have used that river for many years to hide inland. But then Orochimaru attacked the land. . ." He trailed off for a moment, lost in some long ago memory. "Any way, you have to know where it is to find it. I know where it is, and I can take you right to the crest of the volcano with the tunnels that have been carved out from that river."

"Then after that you leave us alone?" Karin asked.

"Yes." Suigetsu nodded. "AFTER Sasuke tells me where my new sword is."

Sasuke leaned back and took a bite of his food. Slowly he nodded. "When we reach the crest. I'll tell you then."

"Fantastic!" Suigetsu stood and dusted him self off. "Well, hurry up, we can reach it before night fall if we hurry!"

Despite the urging Sasuke ate slowly. A horrible nagging feeling pulled at him from in side, but like all of the other feelings he shoved it to the back of his mind.

…...

The river's underground path was as black, and as filled with glittering light, as the most brilliant starry night sky. It opened before them like the gate way to a mystic underworld, one glowing with feint hell-fire, and smelling of sulfur and thick with steam, but quietly breathtaking in it's natural beauty. The moment they set foot in the warm damp tunnel Sasuke and Karin had been hushed in to an awed silence by it;s magnitude and rippling shimmering surface. The water that swirled around their feet was warm and milky white from minerals, and felt good in the same way a warm bath might.

It soothed the pain from Sasuke's shoulder.

"This, my good fellows, is the Cave of Black Ice." Suigetsu said. "It's made of Volcanic glass, Obsidian."

Sasuke stepped forward in the warm water and gaped at the sheer size of the cavern. "How far back does it go?"

"Miles." Suigetsu replied, stepping up to him. "It's all lit, too, by the magma that still flows through the mountain. In some caves you can see lava."

"What's the difference?" Karin asked, no hint of her usual bitting attitude in her words.

"Between what?" Suigetsu asked.

"Magma and Lava." She replied, craning her neck to better see above her.

"Oh, Magma is still inside rock, Lava touches surface air."

Karin started from her awe. "You mean it flows where we could get burned by it?"

Suigetsu nodded. "Yeah, there are a lot of places where if you aren't careful you could fall in. There are other dangers too." The normally grinning teen frowned, serious now. "Steam eruptions, cave ins, and the glass its self is slippery, and when it's broken is razor sharp. A lot of people can die just from taking a wrong step. That's why the Mist chose this place when crossing in to other countries. It's hiddedn, and it's deadly."

Karin's eyes widened and she stepped closer to Sasuke, clearly afraid. "I can go for you. . . Sasuke I don't think you should. . . not with your shoulder pain and you are so week and. . ."

He pushed her back, gently. "Karin. Get a hold of your self."

She frowned, but nodded. "S-sorry."

"Keep going." Sasuke said, nodding Suigetsu on. All the while the hairs on the back of his neck bristled. "And all of us need to remember Orochimaru would have searched this whole volcano looking for any one who would defy him. He was insane, but ingeniously so. His creations WILL know about some of these tunnels."

"Right." Suigetsu said with a stout nod. "I can scan ahead a bit, then report back."

"Go." Sasuke pulled his broken sword out. Karin impulsively reached out and grabbed on to his elbow, her eyes growing even wider.

Nervously she skimmed her fingertips over her lips. "Sasuke . . ."

"What?" He asked, letting her cling despite the growing heat and muggy thick air.

"I. . . I wish there was another way."

He took a deep, heavy, wet, breath. "Another way to reverse the seal?"

She nodded against him. "I'm so sorry."

On impulse he reached up and skimmed her hand with his fingers. "I don't see how you can be sorry, this isn't your fault. It's. . ." He squinted in to the murky darkness. "IF it's any ones fault it's. . ." He halted when he wanted to automatically blame Itachi. It wasn't his brother's fault. "It's mine."

He admitted.

Admitted.

Guilt was not as easily pressed back as was lust or fear. But he tried any way.

"How can this be your fault?" She breathed near his ear. "You didn't ask for a death sentence."

Oh, but he had. His mind floated back to the time when Orochimaru seemed like an _opportunity_. A time when all he had wanted was the blood of his brother on his hands. Not even the threat of his own death could have stopped his need for vengeance.

But she didn't need to know that.

Besides, that wasn't who he was now. He didn't know what, exactly, he wanted, but it still meant finding his brother. Threat of death or no.

But she didn't need to be a part of that.

He stopped moving cautiously forward and pulled her around to face him. The sudden move startled her and she pulled back for a moment.

"Sasuke?"

"Karin. . . You. . ." A splash in the distance interrupted his feeble attempts to tell her. . .

He had no idea what he wanted to say.

He pulled her behind him instead and lifted his blunted blade. She shivered, despite the hot air. The splashing came closer. He reached back and skimmed his fingers over her trembling hand. "Stay quite."

A breathy sound like a choked whisper was her only response. Before them the splashing died down and a slow wet plodding came near. The sent of blood filtered in on the heavy moist air. Then a wash of white against black seemed to light up the tunnel.

Suigetsu looked up and winced, his hand clutching his other arm.

Karin broke from behind Sasuke and raced forward. "Suigetsu?" She hiss-whispered.

"I'm OK, I just sort of forgot to take my own advice."

Sasuke walked up close to the other teen and peered at the nearly bone cuttingly deep gash. "A rock did this?"

Suigetsu reached in to his pocket and pulled out a shard of the black volcanic glass. "The first Kunais and katanas were made from this rock. Like I said, it's deadly sharp." He pressed the jagged nattural blade in to Karin's hand. "Here, you need at least one weapon. I tied some cloth on one end tomake a sort of descent handle."

A thin smile split her lips. "Thank you. I'll treat your arm."

He held it out to her. "OK."

Sasuke stepped away and took point, guarding them. He glanced back when both of the other teens gasped. Karin's face was contorted in pain as the gash was opening up on her arm, and fading on Suigetsu's. Suigetsu's face was twisted in pain as well, but slowly relaxing. A moment latter Karin pulled back and held her bleeding arm.

"That'll heal, right?" Suigetsu asked, worry tinting his voice.

Karin sucked in a breath and sank back, away from the Mist teen. She took in a long, haggered breath, and closed loosely rolling eyes.

"Karin?" Sauke asked.

"It's this cave." She breathed. "Some thing about this cave." The wound closed slowly, leaving a huge red mark on her arm. She rubbed it and grimaced. "Maybe the minerals in the water."

"From now on you leave the wounds to conventional methods then." Sasuke growled softy, firmly.

"What if you get hurt badly?" She asked.

"Then you treat him as if you have o chakra, Hell-Cat." Suigetsu answered.

"Can you keep going?" Sasuke asked.

She nodded, pale faced and still pained.

"Were there any dangers besides the cave's own conditions ahead?"

Suigetsu shook his head 'no'. "No traps, no people, no mutants in the side caves, but I saw a few fresh traps in the main cave. It looks like they made some caveins, but I scouted a number of tunnels, we have clear paths to the top still."

Sasuke chewed his lip as he looked Karin over once more. She was still rubbing the big red wound painfully. After a long moment Sasuke turned away. "So us."

"OK."

Sasuke moved ahead of them while Suigetsu let Karin grab hold for support. They made their way through an ever more dizzying maze of black glass rock and hot steam, and started to climb up. The more steep the climb, the more slick and unforgiving the glass under their feet seemed to be. Suigetsu and Karin held tight with Chakra, but once they hit the steep assent Sasuke could no longer get a foot hold. Sugetsu reached down and grabbed him by the wrist at that point. In silence the white haired teen hauled him up the rest of the way, a span of nearly ten stories.

All along the way daggers of black glass jutted out like serpent fangs, hungry for blood, along the impossibly slick path. Karin's silent assent was broken up from time to time with soft groans.

By the time they reached a level off point all three were gasping and seating, near collapse.

"No more climbing now." Suigetsu managed after a long moment of rest.

"Thank goodness." Karin wheezed.

Sasuke could not catch his breath. Pain was shooting from his limb like little lightning bolts now. He gripped his shoulder white knuckled and leaned heavy against the smooth glass stone wall. For a moment lights danced in his vision, then a cool hand landed on his shoulder.

"Sasuke?"

He looked in to the worried eyes of the Mist ninja and forced his own features to relax. "It was just a jarring climb. That's all."

"You sure?"

"Is there any thing you can do to make it not hurt? Make this less of a challenge than it already is?"

Suigetsu shook his head.

"Then take us to the crest." He stood, his limbs still numb from the climb, and looked won at Karin. The red head was pulling her self up as well.

Suigetsu reluctantly moved on, and lead them through the last little part of the tunnel system. The glassy black rock gave way to rough grey stone and the hot moist air to hot dry air. Spread before them was the sunken in center of the volcano, filled wall to wall with mutants. Sasuke gazed down, momentarily stunned by the sheer volume of bodies pressed in tightly. All of them were facing one aria near the north wall. There was a platform that lifted above all others, and on it a solid block of ice. Ice made from water, white, and clear.

Trapped up to his neck was a human.

"There, that one above all the others, that's Jugo the man eater." Suigetsu said, pointing to the man trapped in ice. "And behind him, that is Shimo**, the half brother of Lord Utakata." Suigetsu's lip peeled back in a sneer.**

**"How are they making ice in here?" Karin asked, stunned. **

**"Supposedly he was in the crystal test group." Suigetsu replied. "He can make water crystals, or, ice."**

**"There was a quartz crystal maker, Guren." Sasuke squinted down at the lithe man behind the ice. "Oriochimaru spoke a number of times about the superior elements that don't need blood line limits. Some thing about every element having a true form one can master. I think that's what the crystal labs were for."**

**"He certainly picked the best place to hide. No one would look for an ice ninja inside of a volcano." Suigetsu started to back away. "Look, Sasuke. . ."**

**Sasuke held up a hand, silencing the other teen. "Here." He dig in to his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. "A map to your sword."**

**Suigetsu took it and opened it with a small smile. "I can't believe I'll finally have it." He lowered the paper and then frowned. For a moment his eyes turned to the swarming masses of people below. "So um. . ." He looked back to Sasuke. **

**"You'll be useless." Sasuke replied with a frown. "You are a water user. He will turn any one of your attacks in to a weapon against you."**

**Suigetsu nodded with a heavy sigh. "Yeah... OK." He glanced down at Karin. "So, Hell-Cat, watch your self."**

**She looked up at him for a moment, then turned away, wordlessly.**

**Sasuke stood and stuffed his hands in to his pockets, feeling all sorts of emotions boiling in the back of his mind. "Don't impale your self on the way down."**

**"I'll try not to." Suigetsu mumbled. "Good luck." And with that he turned and vanished back in to the dark damp glass rock tunel.**

**"He left us." Karin whispered.**

**"You did say you wanted him gone." Sasuke dropped down next to her and gazed out over the creatures down below. The churning feelings started to collect in to one overwhelming feeling of foreboding.**

**Even if he had his chakra at full power, there would have been no way the two of them could ever survive the masses that were down below.**

**"Karin."**

**She looked up at him.**

**"Stay hidden in the rocks."**

**Her eyes flashed angrily towards him. "You can't go alone!"**

**He turned to her and rabbed her shoulders. "Stay. Stay here I'll need you to heal me."**

**"But. . ." She started, then looked down once more. "There won't be any thing left of you."**

**"I'm going to die any way." He half whispered. "I don't want you to die with me, what ever happens."**

**She swallowed hard, then pulled out of his grasp. She stood, nervously shifting from one foot to the other, hands flexing in to fists and out again. Then, in a flash, she ran for the cover and safety of the stone. **

**Sasuke allowed him self one small smile, before facing the masses alone. She was right, there would be nothing left if he attacked them directly. He needed a plan. Crouching low he climbed the crest and sank down, creeping along the wall and down towards the plat form. **

**Shimo was only human, Sasuke guessed, a mutant, but still only a human mutant. The crystal user could not have any more chakra than any one else. So why, Sasuke wondered, was the ise not melting? **

**He squinted and looked down as best he could with his normal eyes. There was watter running down the sides of the platform in little streams. Steam was billowing up all around and. . . glinting in red light, little mettle cones were set up every where.**

**"Water collectors." Sasuke whispered. They were each attached to pipes that ran down to one big silver looking box. That box sat just between the platform and the mass of mutants. Sasuke watched for a long silent time before Shimo lifted his hand and drew watter from the box. It rolled up as steam, then solidified as ice around Jugo again. Pipes running up the thick block also froze the watter, aiding in keeping the whole thing cool.**

**Sasuke inched a little closer, now only a hundred yards away from the platform, and could clearly see the huge 'man eater' sagging even as he was held up. He wasn't shivering, as much of his back, was exposed to the volcanic heat. **

**Sauke sat down to plan. If he could smash the water collector, and stall the masses long enough, Jugo could get free. But the cursed man may be every bit as insane as the other's said he was.**

**Why else, Sasuke wondered, would he be led in such an elaborate prison, and put on display like a trophy?**

**Any way Sasuke looked at the problem he knew this was a suicide mission. But his only cure was trapped before him.**

**…...**

Karin scrabbled up and over sharp black volcanic glass and dull brown stone. Her heart was in her throat as her mind raced between her obedience and her fear. Sasuke was going to fight, alone, and he was going to be killed. There was nothing she could do to save him now.

There really never had been any thing she could have done to help him, she feared. She had hoped that Jugo would have been hidden away, secluded, like he always had been. She never expected the man eater to be on public display.

Her boots were being nearly cut through as she raced to find some place to hide. The Cave of Black Ice would never do, as it could be discovered by any sent tracking mutant. Even here, in the open, she was not safe. The noxious sulphuric air burned her throat, and stung at her eyes, but it would never be enough to mask her stench of terror.

She couldn't stop thinking of Sasuke and the calm scene of finality that rolled off of him. He knew he was going to be killed. Maybe that's why she ran.

She'd been unable to save her father. His last gasp has been in her arms, as wounds far to profuse for her body to take on hemorrhaged before her. She hadn't had time to think, then, because Sasuke grabbed her and they ran together.

Her father wasn't cold before Sasuke had taken her, and her mind had been consumed by the dark haired Uchiha. She hadn't started to grieve yet, she knew, but ow was not the time.

Tears sprung up any way, despite her efforts to keep them at bey, and her vision blured so badly she had to stop for a moment. She dropped in to a crouch and clutched the little stone blade Suigetsu had given her. Her body was shaking, making the rocks under her feet crunch and snik so loudly it drowned out the pounding of her heart.

She took a breath and forced her self to be calm. It took incredible effort, but she slowed the shaking in her limbs and lowered her heart rate. For the first time in several minutes she looked around, and took note of where she was.

She was in a little valley on the side of the volcano with the peak rising behind her. Before her a smaller peek steamed and sputtered angrily. Still shaken, but much calmer, she stood. As quietly as she could she took a step. Rocks crunched, but it was a soft, muffled, sound.

She took another breath and relaxed a little more. The fear was still there, but simmering low. She had to think now, not just react. She tightened her grip on the knife and started to ascend the smaller peak. As she moved the rocks churned under her with grinding sounds of protest. She paused to look for a better path up, as more silent one, but the grinding steps continued for a moment more.

Her heart leaped back in to her throat; she wasn't alone.

Stiff with fright she moved slowly up, listning. More foot steps, hurried, were not far behind. A low growl floated up, then chunky laughter.

"Gurl. . . Mine."

Swallowing she turned and looked back. Green skin and long, think, brown hair was lumbering up, leering with slimy yellow teeth.

The moment their eyes locked it grinned.

Panic swelled and Karin screamed. She turned back around and leaped forward. Before she could take a second step clammy cold hands grabbed her legs and pulled her down. She screamed again, but knew, deep down in her mind, she was alone. There would be no Sasuke to save her this time.

She Clamped down on the scream and thrust the blade towards the monster. It struck hard the side of his head, drawing thick red blood in an instant. It jerked back with a snarl and balled it's fists.

"DIE!"

With hands like sledgehammers falling towards her she rolled and got to her knees. It slammed it's fists in to the glass and stone, shredding fingers in an instant. In rage it reared back and howled. Karin scrambled to her feet and drew the small blade between her and it.

Snarling it looked between her, and it's hands, before dropping in to a four legged stance. Dog like it started to advance, heedless of the wounds on it's hands.

Karin bit her lower lip and took a step back, and reaised she was shaking again.

"Gurl." it grunted, eyes narrow, tongue rolling over the yellow teeth.

She took another step back, and kept the blade steady.

Then, all at once, it leaped and she lifted both hands. The blade was knocked from her and she was slammed hard in to the jagged edges below her. She cried out, in pain and terror, as it's teeth landed on her neck. She balled her fists and drew chakra together as she trembled from the pain in her back. She could taste blood, and knew some thing had priced her ribs. She pressed her hands hard in to the flesh of the beast and wiled her wounds in to it's clammy hide. Blood bubbled up from it's back and it snapped back, howling again.

Karin took the opportunity to pull her self away, and reached back to pull out a huge chunk of volcanic glass from her back. The mutant shuddered and drooled blood. Karin stood and, gathering chakra again, once more thrust her hands to it's skin and willed her wounds on to it's frame. Once more blood erupted from it's body.

It shuddered once, and then fell limp.

Shivvering from the shock of every thing Karin stumbled back and sank to her knees. She reached back and felt satisfied that there were no other derbies in her flesh, and that all of the wounds were sealed. Still shaking a moment latter she fought to her feet and scanned the aria for the little knife she had been given. It was laying near a small crack in the volcanoes side, the bit of cloth that made up it's handle red with blood.

Numbly she moved forward to grab it. The world was starting to grow dark around her, the edges of the sky were tinted an awful blood red. She stepped up to the knife and bent to pick it up, and a shadow fell on her.

Slowly she looked up the rocks till she saw two darkly booted feet. A scream started to build and she made a move to leap back, but the world slowed. Huge black hands reached for her and caught her by the shoulders. The scream bubbled up and she thrashed, but the grip was far, far, to strong. The hands held, and held, and held, as she continued to thrash. Slowly she was pulled in, and strong arms wrapped around her.

"Quiet, little Hell-Cat." A soft voice called from some where nearby.

She shuddered and stopped trying to free her self. Spent she sagged, and fought the tears once more. The strong arms let her down to the ground. Bleary eyes she looked up in to two familiar faces.

Hornet gazed grimly down at her, while Suigetsu's eyes were wide with worry and pity.

She leaped forward and wrapped her arms around the water user, and buried her head in his chest, finally safe to feel, to hurt. Gentle, rough skinned, hands slid over her cropped hair, soothing.

…...

Sasuke crouched low, his eyes scanning the massive swarm of Orochimaru's mutants once last time. He had considered setting up a distraction, but it would only draw a hand full of the disgusting creatures away. It would never be enough to give him any better chance at the task ahead.

There was no plan that would stand more than a moment in the mess. The second the alarm would sound they would be on him. He could almost feel their claws and fangs digging in now. He shifted and licked dry lips, watching as the creatures shuffled about in the heavy fog of sulfur and steam. There was not one under six feet tall.

Jugo, still trapped in ice, was head an shoulders above them all, and seething in rage. His hair, a shock of bright orange, bristled when ever one of the mutants would get to close. Pale white skin was streaking red where ever the ice gripped flesh.

Even if Sasuke managed to free Jugo – assuming he made it that long to the massive man's side – there was no doubt he'd be tore to shreds by the man eater him self. The cure would literally kill him.

And in charge of it all was the thin, black haired, wisp of a man, Shimo. When the ice wained thin he would lift a bony hand and draw water from the machines troughs up around the trapped man eater. With a clutched fist from the crystal user the water would harden again, solid, inescapable.

Each time Shimo restored the ice he would sink back and gasp for a moment. Seemingly spent of all energy, but then with a look of sudden pain he would revive. Clearly, Sasuke mused darkly, the man was not using simple human strength.

The whole situation was death. For a moment Sasuke considered going back to find Karin. She was comfort and he selfishly wanted to embrace that warm, firm, touch. He'd be happy to die in her arms. Happy. . .

He straightened up and drew a breath. Slowly he drew his broken blade and pointed it towards the creatures that were starting to awaken in the red glow.

Nothing he had ever done in his own past gave him the right to be happy.

The dark of night was closing in heavy, bleak. But red hell fire was warm before him. Bracing hism self he thrust out. . .

Only to have a solid hand grip his wrist and drag him back down. "I thought you were smarter than that." A deep voice ground out.

Sasuke looked up, shocked, and shaking slightly from the adrenalin that had just surged. "Hornet!"

The ANBU grunted and dropped his hand with a toss. "You want to kill your self find a less public way to do it." The ANBU reached behind him and pulled two bladed from sheaths on his back.

"I don't really have an option." Sasuke stood, still slightly shaky, and turned to glare down at the mutants. "I'm dead no matter what I do."

Hornet gave the rabble his own glare. "Did you even have a plan?"

"That machine." Sasuke pointed at the water collector.

"I see it. I'll take it out and free the Man Eater"

"You'll be killed." Sasuke protested.

"No, I don't think I will." Hornet glowered athim. "Shimo will run, you catch him."

Sasuke glared back at the ANBU. "Why should I?"

"Because." a familiar voice called out. "I need back up."

Sasuke twisted and blinked at the sight of the white haired teen grinning at him with shark's teeth. "Suigetsu!" He shifted on his feet and took a careful step closer. "Why are you back?"

The other teen turned and peered down at Shimo. "That thing has one of the seven swords. Who knows when I'll be able to locate him again."

"It's suicide." Sasuke argued. "You said it your self you don't do ice."

"Well, maybe." The teen tossed his hair from his eyes. "If I was going alone."

"You two can have a chat latter." Hornet growled. "Now get going." He took in a breath and, before Sasuke could protest, charged, yelling and flashing his blades. Instantly a ripple of excitemt rippled through the creatures below.

Sasuke stared after the man for a moment, then felt a hand tug his wrist. "Come on, Shimo is running in to the caves!"

Sasuke cast one last look back at the ANBU killing machine. Blood was every where, and the air rang with cries of death, and the savage snarls of a human enraged. Turning away from the grim sight Sasuke fell in to quick step with Suigetsu.

"Where is Karin?"

The white haired teen didn't slow down as he tossed the reply over his shoulder. "She's safe, for now, and waiting to patch us up when we are done here."

"What about Hornet? Where did he come from?"

Suigetsu shrugged. "Tracked us, I think, We both heard Karin screaming and met up looking for her. That's all I know."

They slid down the rocks and nearly ran in to a number of mutants. Suigetsu struck out with his own sword, and cut down several of the men. Sasuke leaped and kicked out the jaw of another. They raced on, down, in to ever hotter air.

Sasuke's shoulder started to throb as the air darkened around them.

"Try not to breath the black stuff." Suigetsu called. "It's not good for you."

Sasuke coughed and ducked low, under the billowing dark air. Dizzy he stumbled, but did not loose his footing entirely. Suigetsu, ahead of him, didn't notice and vanished in to the dark. Sasuke followed, listening for the sound of the other teen's steps, while sheathing the broken blade.

Trusting.

He faltered again and fell to his knees. Coughing he doubled over and cringed as each movement sent pain through his back and arm. Suigetsu was back in an instant, pulling him to his feet.

"Don't slow down."

"I don't know if I can. . ."

Suigetsu jerked his arm sharply. "None of that! Just keep moving." Sasuke was shoved on. They darted around a corner and down a slick passage. Orange glowed before them and in moments the narrow black tunnel yawned in to a huge cavern with a slick flat floor. Cracks all around gave the magma air, and light the whole room from below.

Shomo was standing, hands lax at his side, his face blank. Rom behind him Suigetsu growled. Sasuke reached back and set his good hand on the teen's shoulder.

"Stay focused."

"Right."

"Well?" Shimo asked, swaying a little in the suffocating heat. His shirt was sweat soaked limp and all of his ribs were showing. "Do you submit to my power, or must I teach you to bow before me?"

Suigetsu growled again and pressed forward. "I'll never bow to the man who killed y brother!"

…...

Hornet tore through the meaty wall of flesh clawing at him, and made his way to the watter collector swiftly. He set one foot on it and glanced up at the man trapped in ice on the platform before him.

Green grey eyes narrowed, waiting. Hornet lifted a blade and slammed it down in to the machine. A shower of sparks erupted and leaped up. With out water to feed the block of ice, or the machine's cooling effects, the solid frozen prison began to crack. Jugo gazed down, eyes focused, as Hornet backed away, weapons still drawn.

Snarles and whines filled the air behind the ANBU agent. Tunning to look he saw the whole of the mutant masses backing away from the man eater.

"You must be some thing else, Jugo." He said darkly as he looked up at the now struggling man.

Jugo stopped thrashing for a moment and looked back down, eyes almost half lidded. "What, you think I been in the ice for my health?"

Hornet blinked. "No. . . No I don't."

A screech alerted Hornet to an incoming attack and he turned to cut down the mutant. The beast fell on his blade and sank down clear to the hilt. A second latter a shower of ice and cold water drenched him. Jugo dropped down to his side and flexed insanely large muscles. Hornet straightened and faced the massive man before him and found he was eye level with ice encrusted pecks larger than his own head.

"I must say, you are not quite what I expected." he said, craning his head to look up in to Jugo's eyes.

"My reputation as brute savage is largely. . . what is the word. . . exaggerated?" His accent muddled his words a bit, giving away his obvious foreign blood.

Hornet frowned, deeply, as he took in the masses all around them. "They are all afraid of you. They must have a reason."

"I may have eaten some of them last time I was forced to fight." He picked at his teeth with his little finger's nail. "Maybe. I don't quite remember."

"You black out?"

"Only when I loose enough blood." He flicked some thing meaty out of his teeth and flexed his shoulders. "Tell you what. You freed me, so I assume you do not wish to use my body in some sort of helish experiment. Yes?"

"I just need you as a distraction." Hornet replied honestly.

"Best news of this day." Jugo replied tonelessly. "I give you friendly advice then, don't get my blood in your blood and you wont turn in to one of them."

Hornet glanced around, eyes widening a bit. "All of these. . ."

"Fought me once, yes. They do not seem eager to do so second time."

"No, to bad, they have no choice."

Jugo only sighed and flexed once more to work out the last of his stiffness before charging in to the crowd.

…...

Karin watched from her vantage point as one huge hunk of man beef – she would never admit calling the man eater man beef – tried desperately to catch one of his former tormentors. Every where he ran, however, the masses parted, leaving him with a huge bubble of free space. Mutants were scrambling to both be far way from him, and yet get close enough to jeer at the same time. She was glad that the cure wasn't going to be decimated before she could get to his blood.

She took her eyes off of Jugo for a moment to see if she could find Hornet. The ANBU operative was in the thick of a fight, and slowly becoming bogged down with green, brown, orange and red bodies. After a moment Jugo raced to his side, snarled and cleared the aria to give Hornet some breathing room, then backed off again.

The deadly dance seemed to never slow down, tand the bubble around the man eater started to shrink. There seemed to be an endless supply of mutants who were both eager and not eager to recapture Jugo. Worry knotted in Karin's stomach. She knew it was only a matter of time before the mutants plucked up enough courage to attack in full force.

Glancing to where Sasuke and Suigetsu had vanished she worried her lip. Hey were taking far to long to deal with one man. She held the little blade to her chest as she weighed her responsibilities and orders.

Sasuke had told her to hide because it was a hopeless situation. But now that Suigetsu was back , and the ANBU and the man eater, then there was hope again. She stopped worrying her lip and tightened her jaw.

Hope. She hadn't really felt that before. Steeling her nerves she gave one last glance towards the mutants, before charging down the slope to the cavern.

…...

Sasuke tried to grab Suigetsu to hold him back, but a blast of rage and killing intent filled the hot air between them.

"I want the sword you posses, and I want your blood all over it." The Mist teen seethed.

Shimo swayed a little and lifted his hands. The mist started to condense before his fingers, forming little daggers of ice. Sasuke shoved the other youth out of the way as the ice shot forward.

"Don't be rash!" Sasuke snarled breathless. He could feel every fiber of his being over heating.

"Get off!" Suigetsu tossed Sasuke aside, eyes damp. "I don't care. . . I just hate him. . ." He took in a breath. "Sorry."

"Pittiful." Shimo was gathering more ice. "I have no use for you Mist boy."

"I only have use for your head, as a trophy!" Suigetsu replied, pulling him self to his feet. Sasuke stood as well and grit his teeth against the pain.

"Your brother squealed like a stuck pig when I cut his heart out." Shimo went on, still blank faced. "Do you really want that sword so bad?"

Suigetsu snarled, then turned his face away. "Sasuke, you had better have a plan."

"Just back me up." He took the smallest of moments to touch Suigetsu's shoulder before pulling his own sword out. "I am Sasuke, last of the Uchiha, and I will kill you."

Shimo flung the ice forward, Sasuke deflected them with a swipe of his blunted blade. The ice shattered and turned to mist before hitting the floor.

"I do have use for you, Uchiha. Your eyes. You know they are with out price, and more precious than any treasure in this world." He lifted his fingers again and his hand trembled.

Sasuke felt a pinch of cold between his eyes and flinched back. The cold continued, growing, cutting, he cried out and dropped to one knee.

"LET HEM GO!" Suigetsu roared and charged. Still mostly focused on Sasuke Shimo only had a fraction of power to block the attack that came down on him. The taller man kicked Suigetsu away just as the teen's sword came down heavy on the ice user's wrist. Blood gushed, than froze, before sinking back in to the wound.

Suigetsu flew to the edge of the floor and nearly fell off the edge. His sword skidded off and fell.

Sasuke bit back a moan and held the bridge of his nose with his free hand. The chill was spreading through his forehead, as his body burned from the hot air with out. Shaking he tried to stand, but his muscles refused to coordinate.

Shimo stepped closer, his hand swaying, fingers flexing in the simmering heat. "Why don't you use those eyes on me? Why hide your true power?"

Sasuke fought to stand again and made it to both feet. His legs trembled as he tried to straighten them.

"Get away from him!" Suigetsu's voice cut through the thick damp air as he pulled him self up.

Sasuke gasped in ragged, his lungs unable to cope with the muggy hellish air much longer. "Stay back." He rasped.

Shimo looked back and swayed a little. He brought his other hand up and drew more ice.

"Suigetsu. . ." Sasuke shuddered and dropped back to his knees.

The whit haired teen spread his arms and shook hair from his eyes. "I can do this! I'm not going to let him kill some one else I. . ." he snapped his jaw shut.

"You care for the Uchiha?" Shimo asked flatly. Then he craned his head back and laughed. Long and hollow and breathy, like the insane cackle of a man near death. As the spasmodic laughter rolled through the thin body the freeze in Sasuke's head spiked and dipped.

Dimly he heard Suigetsu's feet thundering over the slick black flooring. Peeling an eye open he watched, helpless as ice and flesh met. Red spilled and the white haired teen's expression went from rage, to pain. Still holding his arms out he continued to charge.

Shimo let Sasuke go and put both ice wilding hands between him self and Suigetsu. More ice formed, but the Mist teen was upon him. Body slammed in to body and the ice melted back to water. In that moment Suigetsu seized it and drove it hard in to Shimo's chest.

Sasuke, shaking almost violently, could only watch from where he had collapsed, as the two mist Ninja fought on the black glass floor. Spots of red littered the black and slowly the white haired teen's rage died.

Shimo grabbed Suigetsu'd throat and tossed him off with a strong kick. This time Suigetsu hit the ground so hard it took the air from him and he could not stop his slide. With a yelp fell over the edge down in to one jagged fissure.

Sasuke cried out and was on his feet before Shimo could roll to his knees. The little green leaf that had been tangled up behind his ear fell to the black glass floor. Skidding to a stop Sasuke looked down in to the crevice, but only the hellish red-orange glow of lava met his eyes. Here Sasuke sank back to his knees, gasping for air. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, eyes misting.

"No."

Heavy foot steps plodded up behind him. "You have the cures mark and it's tainted."

Sasuke bit his lower lip and readied his blade as he glanced back. He spotted the leaf just in time to see Shimo's foot come down and crush it.

"You are useless to me this way. I can't take any thing from you."

Sasuke took in a heaving breath, sucking at the saturated hot air. He stilled his trembling and tried to discern the exact distance between him self and the approaching man.

"But there are people who would pay so very dearly for you. Not because you are Uchiha, but because of your past."

The foot steps stopped and Sasuke held his breath.

"You had a Jinchuriki partner, a very powerful one from what I hear. My brother would love to have some fresh bate."

"Bate." Sasuke hissed. He twisted quickly and thrust, aiming for where he thought the man's stomach would be, but all he hit was air. He was just two inches to short. The dull lifeless expression that hung under limp black hair did not change.

"Yes, Bate." A foot shot out in a blur and the sword was knocked out of Sasuke's hand. It slid along the floor and landed near yet one more crack. Sasuke tried to stand, to pull his spent body in to a fighting stance, but he had no power left.

Gasping, trembling, and in pain, he sank down. "Monster." He hissed. His vision blurred again and cold water slid down his flushed cheeks. "You're a monster!"

A cold hand fisted his hair and craned his head back. Dull grey eyes peered in to hollow black. "You will live to see your village burn, knowing that you were the reason it did so." He reached out with his other hand and gripped Sasuke's curse mark cruelly. Gripping with nails clipped to dagger points, and fingers like ice, the action sent ribbon upon ribbon of pain through Sasuke. He grit his teeth and sucked in a breath, trying not to give in to the agony. Darkness swamped him any way and the world started to grey and fade.

"_Sasuke. . ." Soft fingers skimmed his cheeks. ". . . do you. . ."_

"I don't remember." He sucked in another breath. "I don't _want _to remember."

"Your eyes. . ." Shimo let go of his hair and held a hand up, palm down, fingers swaying. Ice drops lifted off of Sasuke's cheeks. "So weak they drip. You will make good bai. . ." Some thing exploded nearby and a rush of hot steam and burning rocks blasted them both.

Shimo lost his grip with a yelp. Sasuke sized the opportunity and rolled away from the ice user. He came to a stop near one crack and fought to his elbows. Looking through his tears he could see a white haired teen staggering from a new crack in the floor. Blood dripped from his chest, but fire burned in his eyes and an enormous sword was slung over his shoulder. Another blast rocked the chamber and sent seam up behind the other youth,

"SUIGETSU!" Sasuke pulled him self to his knees with wide eyes shock.

Suigetsu looked over at Sasuke and then down at the broken lighting sword at his feet. Causally he kicked the blunted bade back to Sasuke. "You think I'd go that easily?" He scoffed, then leveled his gaze at the man between them. "Not when I have unfinished business."

Shimo stood, eyes narrowing. He lifted his hands and drew more vapor together. "You are not part of the Mist." Ice grew, sharp and glittering, like white knives. "Your heart is weak, like the Uchiha's."

Suigetsu unlatched the blade from his back and held it up with both hands. "Week, Shimo, is using others to save your self. Sasuke came here a lone." He spun the blade with a snort. "I used to look so up to you. I wanted to be just like you. Now all I want is to see you pay for what you have done."

"You could never be like me, you don't have the heart or it. Or the skills." He steadied his ice covered hands and pulled back in to a throwing stance. "You can't win this fight."

"Even if I loose the fight, Shimo-sensei, the volcano is going to blow." He smirked. "Isn't it amazing what a little watter mixed with a little heat can do?" He twisted the blade in his hands and steadied his feet.

Shimo growled and drew more water to his ice claws.

Sasuke pulled his feet under him and stood, painfully, sward ready. His cheat heaved with the effort in the hot muggy air. Bitting down on his lip he took a step forward.

Shimo tossed half of the ice with a whip of his left hand. Suigetsu swung the blade and knocked it away. Before Suigetsu could recover his weapon Shimo started to toss the other half of the ice. Sasuke lunged silently, trying to abort the move in time. Shimo, half way in to the toss, snapped around and caught Sasuke in the stomach with in human speed. Green energy glowed between them for a moment as the action registered in Sasuke's mind. Before the pain could take him Sasuke trust the blade forward and felt coldly satisfied when it dove in to flesh.

Shimo sneered.

Blood froze once more and shoved the blade back. Shimo shoved Sasuke back with a grunt and ran his cold fingers over the chilled wound. "I'm invincible."

Sasuke looked down to his own wounds. Four shards of ice were quickly melting in his stomach. Distantly he heard a cry of rage. Numb he looked up and saw Suigetstu in the air over Shimo, the huge blade drawn. Shimo started to run, but the blade came down hard, taking an arm.

The world started to fade at that point and Sasuke dipped his head. More sounds filtered through the haze, but he couldn't find the energy to try and listen. The world rumbled angrily around him and vaguely he had the notion that he needed to get up and run, but he couldn't.

"Sasuke." A woman's voice called.

He blinked, trying to remember what his mother's voice sounded like. Trying to remember any thing. All he could see was the forest and the people and red sharingan eyes. None of it could protect him now.

Hot sticky fingers pressed hard in to his neck as green eyes and red hair came in to view. There was a moment of worry, then a soft smile. "It's not as bad as it looks. Hold on I'll do what I can for you."

He winced as he felt her energy sink in to him, and winched again when she moaned in pain. Then, like some one had pulled cotton from his ears, his head cleared. The pain melted away and for the first time since he sat foot on the volcano he felt like he might be OK again.

"Karin?"

"Quitet." She panted, then moaned again. "Hurts."

His mind started to catch gears again and he remembered her struggle with Suigetsu from earlier. Here in the hot volcanic air her power were stifled. "Don't do this if. . ."

"I'll be fine." She panted fort a second before adding, "Besides, I _can't_ stop in the middle of this."

He forced him self to lay still and watched as his wounds started to appear on her body. Blood blossomed through her shirt. With her chest heaving she gasped for air as sweat beaded over her pale skin.

"Are you done?" Sasuke was only mildly surprised to hear worry in his own voice.

"Almost." She said, breathless. A moment latter she pulled back, gasping for air. Groaning she curled up and hugged her stomach, but could not catch her breath.

"Karin!" Worry filled Sasuke's mind, but this time he refused to push it back like the other feelings that had cropped up when ever she was near him. He grabbed her shoulders and rolled her to her back. Genty he pried her hands up and unbuttoned the lower half of her shirt. Four jagged holes bled freely.

"Just. . . need a . . . minute." She tried to smile.

Once more the volcano shook and the cavern rumbled. Rock rained down in jagged shards. Sasuke dove over Karin, protecting her.

"What's happening?" She rasped.

"Suigetsu opened up a water vent and now steam pressure is building up. This whole volcano will erupt any minute now."

She closed her eyes. "Run, Sasuke."

"Not with out you." Sasuke scooped her up and drew him self to his feet. Echoes of pain lingered, but over all he was once again whole. "SUIGETSU!"

The teen was jumping back from a large shimmering ice blade. "Oh, you still alive?" He chanced a look. "KARIN?"

The cavern shook again and part of the roof fell, showering every one. "Time to go." Sasuke barked.

Suigetsu slammed the blade in to the wall and brought down a shower of black glass between him self and Shimo. Shimo jumped back and let the ice blade drop. Blood ice jutted out from where his arm had once been.

Karin shivered and moaned again. "NOW SUIGETSU!"

The other teen scrambled closer. "You are _not_ the boss of me."

"OK, stay here then." Sasuke shot back before turning to run from even more falling rock.

Suigetsu caught up a few pases after, panting. "OK, just this once you can tell me what to do." He glanced at Karin and frowned. "Is she...?"

"She's just hurt. She's not healing fast enough." Sasuke replied darkly. "She needs air."

Suigetsu nodded and continued to run. With a sudden whine of churned air, ice flashed past them. Suigetsu skidded to a stop and glared. "You guys go, I'll be right there!"

Sasuke skidded to a stop as well and then raced back to Suigetsu's side. Struggling to still grasp Karin he reached out and grabbed Suigetsu's shirt. "No, you are coming with us." Gritting his teeth he pulled. Suigetsu slid freely on the slick floor.

"HEY!"

The volcano rumbled again and more of the tunnel started to fall in.

Suigetsu turned around and harrumphed. "Yeah, OK, _FINE_, I'm with you."

Sasuke nodded and together they fled towards the exit.

…...

Jugo slammed his fist in to one mutant as another leaped on to his back. The moment the mountain had started to rumble the smart mutants had all run away. Now only the very nearly brain dead were still around, sort of hap haphazardly flinging them selves at him like hyperactive puppies. Jugo would have been running like any other creature with a decent brain, but the dumb mutants were so thick he couldn't take a step forward with out kicking at least three of them. The ANBU agent was like wise swamped.

"You still standing, Agent?" Jugo called over his shoulder.

Hornet took a punch to the armored face, grunted, and punched back. "More or less. You still uninterested in eating my flesh?"

Jugo half smirked as he smashed two heads together. One was bright orange and the other was a deep violet. It looked almost spring time festive. "I am not wanting at this time to be getting the food poison from your body parts." He replied.

There was a sound like maybe the agent had laughed, or just been choked. "You know I. . ." A rumble below them cut the agents words off and both had to concentrate on keeping their feet pointed down. Jugo managed to keep up right and was mildly pleased that some of the mutants latent sense of danger was FINALLY kicking in. Nearly half of the rest were fleeing. The rest were just sort of standing around, milling, looking like they weren't quite sure why there were even their in the first place.

The agent stepped up to him, breathing a little heavy and dripping with sweat, but other wise unharmed. "Are these last ones dangerous?"

Jugo looked them over for a moment. "Maybe if you let them wanter in front of market carts. They could be disrupting fruit stands or frightening young children and old women."

This time the agent did make a short, dry laugh sound between his wheezing gasps.

Suddenly, some of the zombie like mutants startled and scrambled away, spooked by some thing, Turning Jugo spotted three bloodied teens running out of the volcanic caves entrance. It took a moment before the trio spotted him, but when they did they stopped dead in their tracks, looking even more startled than the branless-mutants.

"Why were children in the volcano?" Jugo asked, picking a tooth with his little finger.

"The one with the dark hair needs your blood for some sort of cure." The agent replied.

"He does not look well." He sighed, cleared his throat, and stepped forward. "Though I do not think I can help." The teen with white hair stepped back and brandished an insanely large sword. The teens started to back away slowly with growing looks of dread. Jugo sighed.

Another case of reputation before first impression. Some times it was not worth it to be free from mad men.

The Agent came up to him again and set his hand on Jugo's shoulder. "I'll talk to them, it might help if I introduced you. I am a natural party after all."

"Yes, I am seeing this may be the better idea." Jugo replied with a firm nod.

…...

Sasuke drew in steady breath after steady breath as he stood holding Karin. Before him most of the mutant population was either dead or gone. Hornet was still alive though winded, which Sasuke counted as a possible good sign. If the agent was still there then the situation was still more or less in control here in the crater. A deep part of his mind also counted the fact that this agent was a Konoha ANBU, another positive thing.

But behind him, towering over the agent, was the reported man eater. Shirtless, and dripping from sweat, the man looked like he had just come out of some sort of horrible prize fight with the worlds largest creatures. He was, in essence, huge. Not tall. Not bulky. He was brute strong burly.

Karin shifted and moaned softly. He looked down and frowned to see her stomach wounds weren't healing as fast as they should have been, even in the more clear air.

"Sasuke." Hornet called.

"ANBU." He replied, and shifted Karin's weight.

Hornet stood in front of him, taking every thing in though his black masked eyes. "Suigetsu."

The teen waved, his lips pressed in to a think line with fear.

"This is Jugo." Hornet waved his hands towards the mammoth of a man.

Jugo gave a rough hand wave and _smiled_. It looked forced and creepy as blood ran down every peak and valley in his skin. He looked like a bear who had gone on some sort of mauling spree. ""Ello." His voice held a foreign accent, furthering his 'not-normal' reputation.

"Did he eat any one?" Suigetsu squeaked from behind Sasuke.

"Not while I've been watching." The agent replied, flatly. "He's sane, and an extremely experienced fighter, though I can not exactly identify his fighting style."

"It's not one that can be taught." Jugo offered. "Simply learned though many fights."

Sasuke glanced down at karin. She was clinging to him weakly and hiding her face in his chest. As good as he felt he knew he could not take on any more challenges, and manage to keep her safe long enough to turn Jugo's blood in to a cure. Assuming he'd allow it. He narrowed his eyes.

"We need you to come with us."

"Where are you going?"

Sasuke opened his mouth. . . then worked his jaw. His plans had been get Jugo, then go find his brother. He hadn't really anticipated it being a problem until now. At what had to be more than seven feet tall, and quite possibly more than three hundred pounds of solid bone and muscle, all controlled by a being who was not know to be picky about what he ate, Jugo was not some one Sasuke rightly thought he could order around.

Especially not while the only one who could turn all of that raw power in to a cure was half dead in his arms and not getting any better. "I want to find my brother, and then the rest of my clan." He said at last. "But with out you I'll die." His mouth dried at the frank honesty of his own words. For as long as he could remember he had made it a point not to need any one unless they gave him an edge in a fight.

Clearly here there was no edge to gain this time. He had to trust this reputed cannibal, or die.

Jugo gazed down his noses at him while he continued to drip blood and who knew what else from his hands. The blood of the mutants who had nearly killed all in his party more than once. Jugo wasn't hurt, he wasn't even winded.

He didn't even look all that interested. The smile had vanished and he stood, looking some what board. Maybe, Sasuke thought, he really was a heartless monster who really ate any one he wanted to. He forced him self not to take another step back.

"What will be in this for me?" The behemoth finally asked.

Sasuke blinked. It wanted compensation. It wanted validation for it's service. It wasn't his prisoner. Before he could form a reply the volcano rumbled so violently it nearly shook him and every one but Jugo off their feet.

"We'll all die if we stay here any longer." Suigetsu shouted over the roar of rocks and steam. "You follow me and you can LIVE."

Jugo grunted.

"I'll take that as a maybe." Suigetsu stumbled forward. Sasuke gripped Karin as tightly as he could and got back to his feet. Carefully he picked his way after the Mist teen. He tossed one quick glance back to see Jugo following them, still up right, and still scowling.

Sasuke forced his eyes straight ahead. Descending in to the black night he could see the dead volcanic flat lands sprawling before him. Little points of glowing orange littered the land like hungry eyes, and rolls of black stem lifted in to the air like cobras with their hoods open. Even if they made it off the volcano, and even if Jugo could be convinced to help them, the land spreading before them was still deadly. Mutants were still out there, searching for him, and all around them were ninjas who would torture any one of them to learn any thing about Orochimaru.

The mission to free Jugo form the Cave of Black Ice may have been completed, but the mission to find Itachi hadn't even started, and couldn't start until he was sure he'd survive long enough to even find him.

He shifted his limp bundle and steeled his resolve. The odds were still against him, but this time he wasn't, and didn't have to be, alone.

"_Your brother didn't kill your clan, Sasuke."_

And he didn't have to_ hate_, either.

Karin moaned, pained, and shifted in his arms. "Shh." He whispered. "We'll be in clean air soon, then we can all rest."

"Sasuke." Karin's fingers curled tighter.

"_Sasuke. . ._"

"Did you find Jugo?" She opened her eyes a little.

He looked down and smiled. "Yes, we have him."

"_Do you remember?"_

"Every thing will be OK now."

Karin nodded and closed her eyes again. She had a small smile on her chapped dry lips.

"_Mother. . . I. . . I will find you." _ He focused back on the path ahead. _"I will live, and I will fight, and I __**will**__ find you."_

As he slid down a slick glass slope a fleck of green floated past. He only caught a glimpse of the little leaf, before he and the others were all off the volcano and running for the small camp.

* * *

A little preview of next time... (Though I may edit it before I post the chapter)

...

Fuka straightened his shoulders, knowing that his mission had now shifted. "What would you have me do?"

"I think you already know what your job concerning this Jinchuriki is." The scared man said darkly.

Fuka nodded once. "I understand." He bowed. "I'll get to it right away."

...


	26. The One

Well, Here is the next chapter. I'm taking more time with these chapters now. I write them, then let them sit for a long while before I go over them again. It helps me to make sure things flow, spelling doesn't suck (As bad) and I get all of my facts straight. I hope it helps.

Any way, enjoy. (And RnR any mistakes I may have made. _ I am trying to have better quality content this year.)

* * *

Chapter 21: The One

_To the former Hokage, _

_I amuse it is your old age, and your weary mind, that has clouded your judgement towards our future. If this is not the case then I would like an explanation as to why you are abandoning our plan to utilize the world's most powerful weapon. Our dear Minato is not some mere human, who can afford to live as other humans, with the little human pitfalls like children and positions in office. Please do not waist my time, or the time of our fellow country men, in discontinuing what is necessary for our survival. _

_You have forgotten the blood shed, and the lives lost, and for that I will graciously blame your age. But you can not excuse the willing neglect that will lead to genocide if we do not use The One that has been given to us. I trust you will agree promptly to my request to not only continue our experiments with the ninja known as the Yellow Flash, but you will also gather again the necessary beast powers to enable the experiments to continue._

_Your fellow shinobi, Danzo._

…**...**

Fuka kept the file with the letters tucked tightly under his arm as he turned back to the room that was slowly filling with golden radiant light. His heart was beating unevenly as the new information settled in to his mind.

Naruto. . .

_Alive_.

He eyed Danzo, who's face was dark, but firm, and focused on his own breathing. Fuka straightened his shoulders, knowing that his mission had now shifted, and forced calm back in to his mind. "What would you have me do?" His voice was level and dry.

"I think you already know what your job concerning this Jinchuriki is." The scared man said darkly.

Fuka nodded once. "I understand." He bowed. "I'll get to it right away."

Naruto, once more counted among the living, had to be contained. His power was unequalled, and his availability as a weapon for Konoha was to be corralled. Fuka could not let the blond ninja out of his sight again, or every thing would fall apart once more.

Fuka caught sight of shadows trembling and looked over to where Shikamaru was grinning coldly. His black eyes glittered like wet flint. "His ability to surpass all human expectations are incredible, are they not?"

Fuka turned to face the thin younger ninja. "They are. But he is still just a human."

"He is not just a human." Danzo said flatly. "As we have said, those letters will give you what you need to know about the jincuriki Naruto."

Shikamaru's grin widened a little further and his eyes darkened. "I should have been more like him, you know, I could have had at least his _human_ strength." Some thing cold lingered in his expression for a moment. "If I had just a tenth of his natural strength, Umino-Sensei, I could have killed you before you hurt Choji."

Fuka's dry smile faded. "That fight was unavoidable, Shikamaru-chan."

The faded smile stayed in place humourlessly. "As will future fights, Umino-san."

Danzo and the elders glanced between them, all scowling, before Danzo stepped forward. "You WILL keep your minds on your missions."

Shikamaru nodded once and let the smile drip away in to an expression of eager hopefulness. "I do not wish to disappoint any one, my lord."

Fuka felt a wave of unease wash through him and checked on Iruka. The flickering spirit in the back of his mind was slowly getting the information that was trickling through the barrier. Fuka acknowledged the Teacher's horror at the different demeanour the dark haired teen was expressing, but he would not share in the pitiful waves of guilt.

"Shikamaru. . ." He started, but a sudden explosive burst of mist erupted between every one. A thin white skinned teen dropped to one knee before Danzo and bowed submissively low.

"My lord."

"Sai." Danzo said with a soft grunt. "Report."

"I failed my mission to kill Sasuke Uchiha." The teen replied smoothly.

Fuka took in a breath, and frowned. "Sasuke?"

"This does not concern you, Fuka." Danzo snapped. "I am disappointed in you, Sai, you have never failed to eliminate your target before. Why now?"

The teen did not flinch at the angry tone, but instead looked up and offered a thin smile of his own. Not a fake, hastily applied smile like Shikamaru's, but a tired genuine one. "The mission was long, My lord, and not with out danger. Naruto is going to need surgery immediately. Sakura has drained her self completely of her reserves. I will write up a full report, sir, when I have rested."

Fuka's heart quivered for a moment at the mention of surgery. Naruto was a quick healer, but there had been times when he had exhausted even his own resources. "Why does he need an operation?" He asked.

Sai glanced up at him, taking him in for the first time. "To clear an infection from a wound. It's quite severe and needs to be cleaned out right away." He smiled a little. "I am sure he will make a full recovery. Even now I am sure I am more exhausted than he."

Danzo's lone eye flashed dark in the light. "That smile. . .Sai. . ." He growled. "Report, now."

"Naruto's personality is of a sunny disposition, My Lord." Fuka offered, feeling intrigued by the teen who had been on Naruto's team. "It can be infectious." Naruto's power to change people, and his dedication to Sasuke, had some how severed at least one person's indomitable loyalty to Danzo. He stepped up to Sai and let his hand rest on the slim shoulder and found that it was trembling. "Perhaps his mind is not clear now. Rest, I have found, will help the young tremendously in writing their reports."

"The paper work ninja would know." The elder woman said with a snort.

Danzo glared, but then nodded. "Fine, rest first. I will have the report as soon as you can write it, once you have woken up."

"I will have it to you promptly." He said with a nod. "Um. . .I do have a request." This time his calm voice faltered slightly.

Danzo leaned forward and studded the slim face. "A request?" He frowned till the corners of his mouth wrinkled down to his jaw line. "Very well, let's hear it."

"I wish to remain on Naruto's team." The boy, Sai, said flatly. The trembling under Fuka's fingers calmed however.

Danzo frowned, "I don't think. . ."

"A second set of eyes on Naruto would be an advantage." Shikamaru said evenly, coldly, the grin sliding back in to place. "We'll need a trusted spy."

"Very well." Danzo nodded. "For now you will remain with Naruto's team. But I will be watching you."

"Yes sir." The youth pulled away and left the room, feet nearly dragging. Fuka watched him go for a moment before catching the ice in Shikamaru's eyes. Fuka sated back, blandly, unafraid of the shadow user.

"As of Naruto. . ." Fuka smiled dryly. "I will go to his side while he is in surgery and learn what I can of the mission my self."

"Yes." Danzo waved his arm dismissively. "Go."

Shikamaru's wicked grin subsided again and he bowed. "I will go tend to my mission as well."

"Your mission?" Fuka asked. The wash of anxiety filled him again. He turned inward for a moment and reinforced the shield between him self and Iruka, cutting off the other man's feeling once more.

"There are more people who are a threat to our mission than just Hatake and the Hokage." The elder woman replied. "It is our job to make sure they do not get in our way."

Fuka studied Shikamaru, free of the horror of his mental captive, and found him self not wholly free of the anxiety. "And if they do get in the way?"

"My mission is not to hunt down our own citizens, Umino-San, but there are people who would oppose our views. It's my job to track them and make sure they don't become dangerous." He pushed off the wall. "I have a long list, and the day is waisting out there." He bowed to Danzo. "My lord."

Danzo nodded back. "Do not arouse the suspicions of any one."

Shikamaru smiled flatly. "I will be. . . normal, My lord." He stepped back and vanished out the door.

Danzo turned to Fuka. "I told you to go, did I not?"

Fuka shifted on his feet and forced him self to smile. "Yes. You did." He turned on his heal and stepped out of the room.

"Do not forget your mission with Hatake." The elder woman called bitterly. "Kill him, and do it as soon as possible. We need to secure Naruto and get him out of the Hokage's range of power as soon as possible."

Fuka smiled this time. "I will." He glanced back. "Consider the report written."

…...

Guy stepped out on to the street and sank to the steps where he buried his face in his hands. No one was listing. No one cared.

"Might-Sensei?" A soft vice called.

He looked up to see the hard milk and grey eyes of Hibiki, Hinata's younger sister.

"Princess." He greeted, straightening up a little.

"I need your help." She stepped up and stood before him. "It's about my father."

Guy tried to smile. Youth was so... hopeful. "I don't know if I can help."

"His chakra has been altered, Might-Sensei. I can see it deteriorating every day, little by little. My fellow Hyuga see it as well, but they are bound by loyalty to keep silent about the health and wellness of their leader." She said, slowly, calmly.

"Aren't you bound as well?" Guy asked gently.

"I am. . ." She tilted her head. "I am thirteen and I am acting the part of a rebellious teenager. That is the correct term, is it not? Rebellious Teenager?"

Guy nodded, smiling a little. "Yes. . . youthful rebellion to change the broken paths of the old and broken. You are correct."

She gave him a polished little smile. "I need you to give my sister and my cousin a letter for me." She pulled a neatly sealed roll of paper from her sleeve and offered it to him. He took it and slipped it in to his vest.

"Your father. . . how much do you know?"

She tilted her head. "If I never speak of what I know then how can any one accuse me of any thing?"

Guy nearly grinned. "Crafty, sneaky, youthful, child!" He stood and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Princess, You have my loyalty. I will deliver this message and I will protect your sister and cousin."

She nodded, her little smile growing slightly. "When they have read the letter they will ask you to do some thing. If you truly pledge your loyalty to me then promise me what ever they ask you to do you will do it."

Guy nodded. "I will I. . ."

An angry, high-pitched, snarling, shriek split the air. "MIGHT-SENSEI!"

Both Guy and Hibiki turned to see Kurenai storming their way. "Where are my children?" She snarled, fists clenched.

Guy gulped and let Hibiki go. "Run child." He whispered. She nodded and took off, vanishing before Kureni could reach them.

"Ah, you look, glowingly maternal . . ." Guy started, but her nails rushed out aqnd bit viciously in to his throat.

"Where is Kiba? WHERE IS AKAMARU?"

Guy gulped.

"Kurenai?" Some one called, hopeful.

She turned and glared. "Asuma. Where. Are. My. Children?"

From his place across the street Guy could see the light fade from his eyes. "Let him go, my love, I. . ." He shook his head. "Akamaru is dead, and I have lost track of Kiba. Hate me, but let Guy go. He has protected your other students with valor. . . I. . ."

Her claws left his throat and guy gripped the bloody little picture wounds with a gasp. He watched as the ravin haired woman stalked across the street and grab Asuma by the vest. She was shaking.

"Dead?" She hissed. "HOW?"

Asuma's voice was to low for Guy to hear, but he could see Kurenai's shaking steadily grow. Her death grip loosened and slowly she wilted. Then, with a choking sob, she slid to her knees. Asuma knelt down and continued to murmur.

Guy rubbed at his throat and started to inch closer. The low murmurs ware filled with pain and dread. Guy stopped a few feet away and waited. Kurenai sobbed for what seemed like ages before she turned and buried her face in Asuma's chest.

"I'm so sorry." She moaned.

"For what?" Asuma asked, rubbing her back. "It's my fault Akamaru. . . and Choji. . ." He stopped and looked up at Guy with heavy, dark, eyes.

"Can you bring Hinata and Shino home? They need to know."

Guy nodded gravely. "I was about to go fetch them any way. I'm. . . so sorry. . ."

Kurenai took a deep breath and pulled away. "It's no your fault Guy, just. . . Just get my kids home, OK?"

Ge nodded again and stepped back. "I'll go now." The stopped. "Um. . . Kurenai?"

She looked up at him. "Yes?"

"I did hear you were going to have a child, did I not?" He glanced at Asuma who turned ashen, then glanced back down at her.

"Yes." She scrubbed the back of her hand over one eye. "I hope he, or she never becomes a Ninja."

"Then," Asuma gasped. "You. .. I mean when I couldn't find you. . ."

"What?" She asked. Blinking, tilting her head and sniffling.

"Nothing." He pulled her close and held her tight. "Guy-San. . ."

"Going." He stepped back again, then turned away.

Some where in the back of his mind he could feel his worry for Kakashi festering, but he had a duty to the students first. Heavy hearted he pushed his love for the white haired Copy Cat ninja aside and headed for the gate.

It was going to be a long day, he bemoaned to him self, and felt no younger.

…...

Naruto felt cold hands pulling hot cloths off, binding his limbs down, and pressing a needle in to his arm all in a slow motion blur. From with in he could feel inhuman panic, a reaction to the binds and the pain racing through his shivering body. He heaved in a breath and let the fear wash over him, like a wave over a rock. The Raccoon's terror was a golden sea all around him.

"Sakura." His voice was a rasp in hos own ears.

Slim fingers slipped in to his hand. "I'm here."

He turned his head and looked up at her. Her eyes were lined as heavily with black as his were. "If some thing goes wrong please. . . Get me out of the city. Tell Kakashi I'm sorry."

She stared blandly down at him, her mouth drawn in a thin line. "Don't you trust my medical prowess?"

"Of course I do. I just don't trust my strength."

She squeezed the hand tightly. "Well I do. If I have told you once I have told you a thousand times. I believe in you."

The fear ebbed in the wake of her words. Her touch anchored him firmly to the here and now, brining him, for the moment, away from the gilded terror. He closed his eyes and squeezed her hand back. "Just promise me you'll protect them from me."

She sighed, weary. "I promise."

"Thank you."

"But you gotta promise me you'll do every thing you can to keep that new pet of yours from painting the town red."

He frowned. "It's not a pet." He looked up at her, feeling the wash of terror start to pick up a hint of red rage. "It's a monster and it's not bound to any thing. If it gets free. . ."

She grunted and let go of his hand. "Naruto, for the sake of argument, and BOTH of our minds, lets just call it some thing cute, rather then address it as a 'free range demon', all right?"

He started at her, scowling. "But. . ."

"ACHT!" She snapped, lifting a finger, silencing him. "We are about to cut in to your stomach, where that_ thing_ is. If I have it in my mind it's going to jump out like some sort of 'snake in a peanut can' trick I might just slip and cut some thing that isn't supposed to be cut."

Naruto settled back down and stared up at the ceiling, thoroughly troubled by the image that painted in his mind. "OK, fine, but no pet names." He said past a drying mouth.

She nodded once with a grunt.

A shadow fell over Naruto and he glanced up to the other side. Tsunade was looming close in surgical scrubs. "That thing is really loose?" She made a motion as if to bite her thumb nail, but stopped her hand just short of the mask on her face.

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes. "Yeah. It's been hiding in me since Gaara was revived."

Tsunade turned her eyes to Sakura. "What do you recommend we do to ensure the Raccoon doesn't decide to come out of hiding."

"Well," she said slowly, glancing down, it reacts to out side stimuli when Naruto isn't in control of his body. Danm thing tried to eat me, so I kicked it in the jaw. Seamed to respect the fact that I was a lot stronger than Naruto's body at the time."

Naruto scowled. "You broke my jaw?"

She turned her dull gaze down on him. "You had a hole the size of your own head in the middle of your chest and you were a puppet to the beast. Your jaw was the least of your concerns."

Naruto felt another wave of fear and swallowed. "Puppet?"

She shifted on her feet, looking grim. "After Naruto went down that thing was hell bent on brining him back. It didn't abandon the body, but used it as best as it could with the damage it had taken."

"It's depending on Naruto." Jiraya's voice floated over. He stepped up to the table, also in scrubs, and folded his arms. "It knows."

Tsunade nodded. "So what do we do? If it thinks Naruto is in danger it could attack us."

"I'll keep it calm." Naruto closed his eyes and let the fear filter through his mind. "It has listneded to me before."

"Naruto." Sakura said slowly. "Just how do you propose to do that while we are operating on you? You'll be asleep."

"Don't put me to sleep." He opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"The level of pain. . ." She protested.

"Is acceptable if it means keeping you and the village safe." He replied, firmly.

"Are you sure?" Tsunade asked, eyes worried.

"If I can talk to it then I can keep it calm." He took a slow breath. "At least, I think I can."

"You can." Jiraya unfolded his arms and set them on Naruto's shoulders. "You have a gift to change the hearts of people, I don't see why it can't also be used for a tailed beast."

"But the pain. . ." Sakura snapped, rubbing her bloodshot eyes. "Wait... what about an epidural?"

"I was just going to suggest that." Tsunade said, nodding in apparent approval. "It would alow us to proceed with out putting him under."

"A what?" Naruto's brows furrowed.

"It's a drug injected in to your spine to kill any pain in your stomach. It's used primarily on women in labor to help deliver the baby painlessly. . ." She smirked a dry, sarcastic smirk. "Not all that off from what you are, really."

Naruto glared up at her mildly. "I'm not. . ."

"And that makes Gaara the daddy I suppose." She rubbed her eyes again, but did not loose the lazy sneer. He gazed in to her bloodshot eyes and noted the way her hands were shaking with fatigue.

Naruto turned his attention up to Tsunade, worried with his own growing fear. "She's not going to help you, is she?"

The Hokage shook her head 'no'. "Consult only." She looked at the exhausted pink haired medic. "Sakura, as soon as I have a grasp of what I am to do you will be dismissed. Understood?"

Sakura nodded slowly, eyes still not focusing. "Aye ma'am."

"We are going to roll you on your side." Tsunade said, attention back down on Naruto. Her hands slid under his back on one side while Sakura reached over and grabbed his shoulder and hip. "Count of three."

Naruto felt a wave of nausea roll through him as they counted then rolled him By now the pain he was feeling was a constant gut churning throbbing and he hardly felt the motion. He swallowed hard as a needle pressed hard, then 'popped', in to his spine. This hurt in a new and jarring way, and he had to bite down hard not to moan. He winced and looked over at Sakura who was looking down at him with glassy red eyes, but there was still a fierce determination aglow from the green irises.

"You look like crap." He whispered through clenched teeth.

She glowered at him. "I look a whole lot better than you do right now."

Naruto felt a wash of some thing cold filter down his back and sooth away much of the pain. Taking a full breath he felt a twinge of anger and couldn't tell if it was his own of the Fox's. "After this is over I'm going to sleep for a week."

She smiled dimly. "That's a good idea." She looked up away, at Tsunade. "Are we set?"

"Ready." The Hokage replied firmly.

Naruto was lowered back down slowly. The pain was gone, more or less, leaving only the fog of exhaustion. He closed his eyes for a moment and felt him self drifting off to sleep. A fearful snarl in the back of his mind returned his attention to the monster with in.

He reached out and set his hand on it's muzzle in his mind. Even here, though he wasn't really moving, only thinking of movement, he was sluggish and slow. "Stop. These are. . . well most of them are. . . my friends. They are trying to help." He tried to shoved his still festering mistrust of Tsunade out of his mind, it would not help at all now.

The Raccoon growled again and bristled.

"No more pain, see? It doesn't hurt. They are fixing me." A sudden and violent jerk near his stomach sent a jolt of new pain through him, snatching his breath away, and snapped him back to reality. A blue screen had been set just under his collar bone, preventing him from seeing what was going on. Another violent tug winded him completely and he gasped.

Jiraya was hovering near, looking down at him, his bushy grey eyebrows furrowing and bristling with obvious worry. "It's OK. Just try to relax." A gloved hand rested on Naruto's forehead. "Just try to keep your breathing level. This shouldn't take long."

His lips all to dry all of a sudden Naruto licked them futilely to chase away the sand paper feeling. "What's happening?"

"I. . ." Jiraya looked up, seemingly not knowing how to answer. "Well. . ."

"We are making an incision." Tsunade replied. "Can you feel any thing?"

"Feels like you are pulling on me." He swallowed. "Hurts just a little too."

"Bad?" Jiraya asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No." He closed his eyes again and winced when he felt more sharp pulling. Some where in the distance he could hear a door open. "Lady Tsunade? I came as soon as I hear the news!" The voice was bubbly and had far and away to much energy shooting from it for Naruto's taxed systems to properly proses. He closed his eyes and took a slow breath in.

"Shizune." The Hokage greeted levelly, calmly. "Sakura, stand down, you don't have to leave, but get out of the guts. Shizune, scrub up and get in here."

"Yes Ma'am." Sakura sighed, and then appeared next to Jiraya.

"I can't belive you two are OK. . ." Shizune's voice broke. "

"Guts?" Naruto asked, ignoring the Hokage's aid. "You that far in already?" A new wave of fear washed over him.

Sakura nodded. "Your not that hard to slice open." It was a flat, some what detached, reply.

"Does it look bad?" Naruto licked his lips again as more pulling jarred him literally from the inside out.

"Doesn't look good." She replied, still flat toned and detached. "Think we got here just in time, to be quite honest." She added, finally looking down and making eye contact.

Despite the medical mask on Jiraya's face Naruto could see the frown in his features growing. He looked strange with medical scrubs on and his messy hair tamed back on to a rough pony tail, stuffed partially under a cap. "I should have been there with you." He half moaned.

Naruto shook his head as best he could. "Didn't know what we were in fore."

"He's right. . ." Sakura's words were swept away on a wave of sudden pain. Naruto grit his teeth and gasped. Some thing slid over his nose and mouth, smelling of sickly sweet plastic. For several moments he could do nothing but endure the agony. The Raccoon thrashed from with in, chattering and growling.

He forced him self inward and once more grabbed on to the monster, clinging as much for support as to give support. "Shhhh... They are helping us." He wrapped one arm around the muzzle and reached up with the other arm to scratch at the ear. "It's OK."

The Raccoon growled, but the fur relaxed. Another wave of pain hit, causing Naruto to cry out in a gagged hollow scream. The Raccoon in turn leaped back, terrified beyond all reason, and tossed him away. His inner self flew through the body-scape and slammed in to what he could only assume was a rib. He hit hard and pain washed through him from the impact. Not a bone jarring pain like the rib had really been hit, but more like an over all body head ache.

"Strange." He grunted, and rubbed his inner being's temples. The pain in his guts faded again and he took a calming breath as he sat up. "OK, look, Coon, Just calm down? I'll let you know when you need to be scared. I can see what's going on and you can't."

The Raccoon dipped it's head and hissed, but calmed a little. Naruto took that as a good sign and returned back to reality.

"DANM IT!" Tsunade's voice cut through the air violently. "Tell the Zoo to NOT heal you till we are done. The incision keeps trying to reseal."

Naruto winced at the ferocity in her words. The same ferocity she had shown when Kakashi was about to die. "I'll tell them." He submerged in to his mind again and faced the Raccoon. "Hey, Raccoon, listen. . ." He glanced at the cage and the thin strand of ckakra holding the seal in place. "You too, Fuzzy."

The Fox rumbled. "You wish to speak to me now? Have you grown weary of conversing with a beast who's mind has been torn apart?"

Naruto glanced over at the Raccoon. "Torn apart?" A nagging, horrible feeling entered in to the back of his mind, the feeling that once more he'd missed some thing obvious. He shook his head and waved his hand, dismissing the feeling. "Nrrg.. No, _yes_. . . Look." He took a breath. He did not have time or the energy to deal with _their_ problems at the moment. "Can either of you cure an infection? Poison?"

The Fox glanced at the Raccoon, and the Racoon looked any where but at the Fox or Naruto.

"Didn't think so." Naruto folded his arms and leaned against some thing soft and slightly damp. Maybe the spleen. Or his idea of what an inner body-scape spleen would look like. . . He rubbed his still throbbing temples. "When Kabuto blasted that hole in to me, and then latter filleted me like a fish, all sorts of dirty crap got in, and now I'm some sort of walking cesspool, according to Sakura. . ."

The Raccoon cowered.

"The other humans are trying to save my life, and YOUR'S, by opening me up, and cleaning my internal organs out. They can't do this if you guys seal up that hole too fast."

The Fox tilted his head a little, the vindictive sneer vanishing for a moment. "How long will this cleaning take?"

"I don't know. But I will tell you, BOTH of you, when you can do that. . . make-magic-flesh thing happen again."

The Fox sat back and snorted softly. "Very well."

"That's it?" Naruto asked, a little surprised. "No threating to eat people, no attempts to escape?"

The Fox glared at him silently, then turned away. Naruto opened his mouth to say some thing more, but a veritable flood of torment overcame him. Every thing with his his mind dimmed and he found him self once more back in reality. He didn't have the air to moan, or he knew he would have. A bubble of bile slid up his throat, so he settled for swallowing.

Jiraya was rubbing a cool wet cloth over his head, gently, mumbling soft soothing words. Naruto couldn't make out any of the words, but they sounded sickly sweet. Some thing not common for the master pervert of the hidden leaf village.

"It's every where." Shizune's voice cut through it all, riding on a current of desperate worry.

He took a breath and rolled with the pain, moaning a little. "Th't you said... wouldn't. .. hr't." He managed.

Shizune peered over the blue sheet. "Sorry, Naruto. The drip line seems to have come a little loose, we have the medication up all the way, but only some of it seems to be getting in."

"Fix it." He gasped.

Jiraya's fingers skimmed over his cheek. "We can't, not right now. We can put you to sleep. . ."

"No." Naruto shook his head. "No, to dangerous."

Tsunade growled from some where. "This is a disaster."

Sakura's tired voice drifted through the air. "Just cut it out. Trust me, give him enough food from the IV feed and he'll grow it back in minutes."

"You know what you are asking me to do." Tsunade replied. "This goes against every medical. . ."

Sakura's sighed. "Oh for the love of. . . _I'll_ do it."

Naruto had no time to brace him self before there was an explosion of pain. He could hear yelling and alarms and felt the darkness closing in once more. Jiraya's voice was sounding out in a frosty blizzard of cursing. The Raccoon's chakra swamped him, and red rage mixed with gold. He fought his way back to his mind and grabbed the Coon's muzzle again, clinging, as he felt his teammate's cold hands pull his guts out.

"Stop, please." He held tight, not knowing quite who he was begging, human or monster. "Just wait. . ."

"Naruto?"

The voice was distant, but familiar. He stroked the Raccoon for a moment before forcing his eyes open with a shuttering breath. A scar over the bridge of a pale nose greeted him. There were brown, warm, damp, eyes.

"I-r-ruka. . .?" Beyond the blue sheet Stunade was raving, and Sakura was raving back, voice slurred to an almost drawl, and both women were giving Shizune orders.

A warm strong hand gripped his. "Shhh... It's OK. I'm here."

From with in the Raccoon was keening with terror and drooling. His chakra was flaring all over the place, but there was no attempt to heal any thing. The Fox was snarling, but Naruto couldn't tell what the snarls were about exactly.

"You have to get them away." Naruto swallowed hard and gulped back tears. "It'll kill them."

"What will?" Iruka smoothed back damp hair.

"Raccoon." Naruto replied, then felt a twinge of his own fear. In the back of his mind he recoiled at having given up information about the Raccoon so quickly under the pressure of pain, but he trusted the man bent over him. "Please. Don't let it hurt any one."

'Can we do some thing now, this. . . thing. . . is driving me insane!' The Fox snapped.

"Yes." Naruto replied. Any thing to stop the pain. Death was a close, hovering, shadow, but completely barred by all of that swirling chakra. "Do some thing." He pleaded, this time he knew he was begging the beasts with in. The Raccoon shuddered as he began to send his chakra out to the body.

Soft cool fingers slid down Naruto's cheek, brining him back to the operating room. "It's OK, Naruto, it's not going to get out. Trust me. I won't let any thing happen to you. You are almost done, OK?"

"Hurts."

"We are not done yet, Naruto!" Sakura growled. His whole insides felt as though they were bing ripped out. Some thing squishy fell to the floor. Tsunade and Shizune didn't seem to be there any more. Jiraya seemed to be missing as well.

Naruto closed his eyes. "I. . . I was dead." He grit his teeth and braced him self for more pain. "It hurt. It hurt to die!"

"Shh... I'm here now." Iruka soothed. "I'll keep you safe. Your my student, my. . . _son_."

Son. Naruto smiled in spite of the pain. In spite of the deaths. In spite of every thing. Son. Family. But the Raccoon was panicking. Visions of the dead Serpent Sanin filled his mind. "Run, get away, I'll eat you. Leave me." He opened his eyes to see brown rimed with blue looking back down at him.

"I will never leave you, Naruto." Hand squeezed hand. "I love you." Iruka reached up and pulled the mask free and bent low. Softly he kissed Naruto's forehead. "You need to realize that." He slipped the mask back up, blue eyes shimmering.

"Iruka. . . _F-father_?" He closed his eyes and squeezed the hand back. A new wave of pain washed through him and the Raccoon's energy spiked, nearly taking over his physical being. With a cry of pain he pulled every ounce of will and energy in to pulling the Raccoon back. It slammed against his chakra and snarled.

"He's trying to escape." Naruto moaned.

"Trust me, Naruto." Iruka said firmly. "You need to calm down. That Raccoon isn't bound to you, and didn't run when you fought Orochimaru. It isn't going to run now, either."

It was still pressing hard, but not snapping through. ". . .But. . ."

"It needs you, just as much as you need it. Trust it, Naruto, and trust your self. I trust you." He pressed the shoulders down firmly. "You can do this."

Naruto took a breath and forced him self to relax. The pain spiked, then ebbed. The panic swelled for a moment and he swallowed a whimper.

Tunade's voice drifted through the haze. "It's all growing back."

"Told ya'." Sakura grumbled. "Get him more IV nutrition! He'll snap those restraints and eat us if he can't get food in fast enough!"

"I'll get more!" Shizune's voice was sharp and crisp.

Naruto opened his eyes back up and looked in to Iruka's. The blue was gone and only the brown was there.

Blue? There had never been blue before. Dizzy he took a shuddering breath as the whole room spun around them.

"It's OK. I'm here." Iruka squeezed his shoulders gently.

Exhausted he closed his eyes again. He didn't care what color those eyes were, so long as they were looking at him. The pain was going away and his _father_ was there. For now that was all he could ask for.

His family, his father. The pain melted and every thing stilled.

…...

Pakun paced over the hard wood floor of Kakashi's apartment, his nails clicking with every step. Normal dogs, by nature, could not dwell on the past, nor could they fret the future. Dogs, rather, lived in the moment they were given, their minds conditioned to react in one way or another to any command or stimuli by their past experiences. Pakun was not like normal dogs. He and most of the others in Kakashi's care were very carefully crafted _Summons_. They had been given two gifts. One was the ability to think both of the future, and of the past, and the other to think in abject terms. That abject thinking gave them the power of speech.

"Damn humans."

Not all speech was acceptable to all that listened, but at the moment, Pakun didn't rightly care.

Not this time.

He and the pack had been anxiously awaiting the recovery of their master, hopeful that the man would be all right after all they had heard about his ongoing hospital stay. The near death scares and the threat of total chakra loss had weighed heavily on all of their minds. It had been almost a relief to Pakun when he had been summoned, but the relief had been short lived. He could still smell the horrible ANBU lair in his fur. It wreaked of fear and insanity, of imbalanced minds and wrecked bodies.

Kakashi had wreaked the strongest. He nearly oozed with self destructive scents. And his voice had a cold human hitch to it that made him sound soulles. An undomesticated animal, even an abused animal, would have sounded more alive than Kakashi had.

Pakun rounded the coffee table and walked back towards the kitchen, his nails clicking relentlessly under him as his mind jumped from the resent past, to the distant past.

His father had warned him about these times, about when humans would go insane. Pakun had been an intrepid pup, mindful of his lessons, but head strong. Back then he had seen his boy only a hand full of times and only smelled stress and sorrow, never insanity. He had brashly thought that HIS human would balance out eventually and be as strong as any dog in a well maintained pack. His father had only replied to that logic that a human could sever it's bonds with a pack of its own free will.

Sever bonds? Pakun had laughed out loud. What animal could sever bonds? That would be like cutting one's own brain out. Death would be instant.

Or so he had thought.

But bonds could be severed, his father had argued. Kakashi's father had severed his bonds, and then killed him self. The little ninja boy had found the body, the old pug related, and it would be the seed for insanity latter on.

Watch for it, Pakun had been warned, wait because the insanity of a severed bond would strike, sooner or latter, any Ninja who walked the earth.

"Damn humans." He snorted again, shaking his head. Kakashi may have severed his bonds with the world around him, but Pakun would cut his own heart out before he let his own bonds die.

Die for the Pack, live for the Pack. Be one with the pack. The pack was every thing. _Every thing_. When the leader of the pack was hurt the pack could help it to heal, or kill it, before it hurt any one else. Those were the rules. But he couldn't kill a human. That was against the rules.

He had to restore sanity or die trying, because if he didn't the whole pack would self district.

The door knob rattled and Pakun jumped up to the coffee table. He sat down and reminded him self to be calm, but firm. Read the man's energy first, then address it. Match it, and redirect, if he could, and try to re-balance the human.

He longed for his father's presence. The old dog would have known what to do, when to do it, and at what intensity.

Then again his father had lost Kakashi's father.

The little nin-dog had never felt more alone than this moment.

The door opened and Kakashi stepped in like he was gravely wounded. His movments were painfully slow, and he winced when he breathed to hard. Despite the agony clearly written on every move the man made Pakun could feel an erratic and forceful energy exploding off of his human form. He took a breath and stood, bolstering his own energy to match the highest level of the human's energy, but forced him self to be _calm_.

This would never, ever, work if he panicked.

"Kakashi." He stated, drawing the man's attention his direction. The wolf mask barred Pakun's view of the face, but he could feel the energy scrawl crazily in every direction. It was like the energy of a thousand birds all trying to flee at once from a cat.

"Wolf." The human snarled. "I am wolf." there was a rush of killing energy and Pakun tried not to wince. This conversation would be like dancing with a poisonous viper in a burlap sack. He took a calming breath and lifted both his head AND his tail.

The human was no longer in control of him self, let alone his dogs. Pakun would not insult the human by commanding with voice, but he would not let this one human kill off every thing with the insanity.

"No. Your name is _Kakashi_. You have ordered me on a number of occasions to call you that."

The human snarled again and tore the wolf mask off of his face. "I am Wolf now."

Obsessed, Pakun noted, and distracting him self with these little nuances of 'rules' to protect him self from pain. The human was rudemating, no doubt, and Pakun had to stop it. Viper-sack-dance or no.

Die for the pack. He dropped his voice lower, but made his energy stronger by sheer force of his own will. "I will not call you Wolf, Kakashi. Not when you do not have that mask on. You are a human being, not an ANBU Automaton."

There was a lull in the energy for a moment as Kakashi pulled off the cloth mask. His lips curled into an almost inhuman sneer. "I give _you_ orders, dog." His energy was wavering. He was exhausted. He couldn't fight for much longer.

At least, Pakun hoped he couldn't fight for much longer.

"That isn't an order, Kakashi, that is a statement of fact. I will not address you as some thing you are not. A dog can not lie about the true nature of a man or animal. You know that." He took a step forward, focusing his calm energy towards the human swaying before him. "You also know that what you are doing will get you killed."

There was a sudden, horrifying, excited jump in the man's energy. It was like the hunger of a hunter wolf, but more depraved, in a way, colder. A wolf hunted to live, to feed it's family, to help the pack. It killed swiftly, and did so with out joy or sorrow. This energy was hungry, yes, but trembled in odd way.

It felt like a cat toying with a helpless mouse. Only the hunter and the hunted were the same thing, the same person. Pakun licked at his teeth and took a step back reflexively. His tail sank to line up with the rest of his spine.

"My life isn't worth the mission paper it's noted on." The voice was freezing. The energy beyond Pakun's ability to read it.

"No. Kakashi, do NOT let your mind entertain that thought!" Pakune forced him self to breath calmly. "You can not throw your own life away." Severed bonds. . . He may have abandoned the dogs, but Pakun could not believe he'd abandon his students like that. Not unless. . .

The little dog felt his tail drop to where his ankles jutted out behind him. "It's Naruto, isn't it? Some thing happened."

The energy kicked up even higher, though it straightened out to pure pain again. "I want you out of my house." Kakashi snarled, flat little teeth flashing.

Pakun stood firm. "Not until you tell me you won't do some thing so stupid as to kill your self over this." He stomped his foot, but the only sound was a soft click of nails.

Kakashi snarled darkly. "I am ANBU. If I die, I die in battle. Else I wait for my orders." He tugged off his shirt and stalked off towards the bathroom.

Showing his own teeth for just a moment in fear and agitation Pakun followed him. "You are just like your father, you know, wallowing in your own self pity. I can tell you are lying to me, Kakashi. You may not pick up your own weapon to kill your self, but what can you say to make me think you won't toss your self in to the path of an enemies strike?"

Kakashi froze, hand on the shower knob, back stiff. "I am nothing like that man." His words were so deep and so dark that it didn't sound like his voice.

"No?" Pakun scrambled in to the shower and looked up. The human's whole body was shaking slightly now. "Every thing with in you is screaming some thing, and it's horrifying. You are angry, and hurt, and you are dangerous."

"My death." He ground out. "Would only end _my_ suffering." He gripped the shower's knob tightly for a moment. "Trash should suffer." There was a lull in the energy for just a moment, a weak second of near collapse, and Pakun jumped on it.

"Trash doesn't suffer, Kakashi, that is the nature of trash. That's why it is called trash." He sat down, matching the new lower energy level. "You feel pain. Trash can't do that. Naruto would never want you to suffer like this. Obito wouldn't want. . ."

The energy spiked again, violently, and Kakashi turned away. "Never speak to me again, unless I have spoken to you first."

"Where are you going?" Pakun stood. "Kakashi!"

The man scooped up his cloths and left the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Pakun sat down slowly. Even from a room away he could feel that enormous insane energy flowing like acid over every thing.

He'd felt this before, yes, but never this bad. Never this complete. The little nin-dog stepped out of the shower and followed the sent of his master to the front door.

There he laid down and set his head upon his paws. His tail tucked tight and his ears drooped. There was nothing more he could do but hope.

…...

There was a long, warm, stretch of peace where Naruto felt whole. He could still feel the light pressure of the comforting hands on his shoulders and his body was clean, clear, and mended. With the mission over he could just lay there, resting, basking in the warmth of his family.

He'd never felt so at home before.

In the back of his mind, however, anxiety festered as the fleeting images of his silver haired teacher flickered like a half forgotten dream.

He opened his eyes and glanced up in to the blue eyed blond leader of his world. "Hokage-sama." He sat up slowly, pushing the blue screen off of his chest slowly. His stomach was a grimy mess, and all about the table below him were the remains of the infected tissue. All eyes were on him, watching him.

"How do you feel?" Tsunade asked, looking at him wearily, like one would look at a dangerous animal just set free from it's cage. Naruto leveled his gaze in to hers. He still could not find it with in him self to forgive her for what she had done.

"Alive." He replied coolly. Before she could say any thing more he turned to Saskura and looked her over. "Get some rest."

She grunted and nodded as she peeled off white gloves. "Not till you promise me you won't go and strain your systems. You just had your entier abdomen stripped of it's internal organs. They may have grown back but it'll be a cold day in hell before I believe you aren't in for some sort of back lash from all that's happened to you. And so help me if I find out you have gone and hurt your self some how I will personalty gut you like a fish and strangle you with your guts."

Naruto slid of the table and cringed when his feet landed in what looked like a half dissolved liver. "You are so charming when you are tired." He started to redress.

"Naruto."

He turned and looked to where Iruka and Jiraya were standing, looking at him wide eyed. "Iruka. . . Thank you."

Iruka smiled a cool, dry smile. "I'd like to treat you to some thing to eat, if it's OK with the doctors." He nodded towards Sakura and Tsunade.

"He should eat." Tsunade folded her arms and looked naruto up and down. "I'd like to see him build some mass back up."

Naruto looked down at him self. Even with the pilfered vest on he could tell he was thin. "I'd love to have a bowl of raman. . ."

"I'll take you now, if you are ready." Iruka offered.

He looked up at Iruka, ignoring the temptation of food, as the nagging feeling towards Kakashi continued to fester. "I'm sorry, but there is some thing I have to do." He turned to Jiraya. "Where is Kakashi sensei?"

A cold silence filled the room and he turned about, seeing mixed looks of pain and anger. "What? What happened?"

Tsunade averted her eyes and Jiraya seemed to shrink on him self. Iruka gazed at him, but it was a hollow cold gaze, completely turned about from the warmth projected only moments ago. Sakura stepped up to him, her dark rimed eyes burning. "Well, he asked you a question, Hokage."

naruto set a hand on her shoulder and gave her a small push. "Go. _Sleep_. I'll take care of things here."

"He's my teacher too."

Naruto shoved again, a little harder this time. "Go before your charm gets you in to trouble."

She tossed a venomous glare at him and lifted a finger. "I want you to behave your self. No more wounds, no fighting, and no exacerbating your body's long list of problems."

"I'll be good." He promised.

She huffed. "Well, that's about all I can expect form you, I suppose." Tuurning she grumbled under her breath as she opened the door and stepped through it. As it swung closed Naruto could hear words like 'double monstered' and 'zombie ninja'. After that the cold silence returned once more.

He settled back on his heals and folded his own arms, feeling suddenly alone again, even with iruka still in the room.

"What happened to my teacher?" He asked, keeping his voice level. The beasts with in were still riled up and any anger now on his part may tip the scales. He felt them boiling just under the surface.

When no one replied he turned to Jiraya and looked the old sage in the eyes. From his three years of daily training with the man Naruto could clearly see worry and pain written on the normally confident face, even though the Toad Sanin was doing his best to hide it. "Where is he?" He asked, his voice just hovering between a growl and a shout. He held tight to his emotions as memories of his own hands ripping the third Sanin apart rolled through his mind. "Tell me."

Jiraya looked away and shook his head. "Naruto. . ."

Turning about Naruto faced Tsunade. The woman was standing tall and cool before him, her eyes like frozen pools. "Where is Kakashi Sensei?"

She took a breath, her whole chest lifting with the air. "He's out of the hospital against medical advice."

Cold dread trickled down Naruto's spine. He clenched his fists, as if physically grabbing on to his control. He couldn't keep his eyes from narrowing however, or the inhuman anger from filtering in to his voice. "Why?"

"It broke his heart." Jiraya said quietly. Naruto turned and looked at the old sage. His head was low and shaking slowly back and fourth. "When he heard what had happened it was like a part of him died right along with you."

Naruto clenched his fist again and lifted it slightly. "Where. Is. My. Teacher?"

The cold silence that drifted in the room was suffocating. With in anger burned hotter and Naruto had to turn away from the two sanin.

"I can search this whole village in ten minutes." He leaned his fisted hand up against the sill of a window and looked down over the village. He rubbed his chin with his thumb as he gazed down. "And none of you could stop me."

"Naruto." Tsunade half whispered. Her voice was trapped between fear and force. "He left of his own free will against my advice. I don't know exactly where he is right now." She tilted her head back a little, looking down with narrow eyes. "I've done all I can for him."

Naruto turned sharply on his heal to face her. "You promised to look after him. You are the Hokage if your word can't be trusted. . ." he held up both hands and looked at them, flexed them, and then looked back up, eyes dark.

She glowered down at him.

Naruto stepped up to her and squeezed his fists tight, torn between fear and anger. "You are hiding some thing, Tsunade. That's the face you make when you gamble. Like you have some thing to loose."

Jiraya stepped up to them, his hands wringing at the hems of his garments. "He joined the ANBU." He blurted, shame written over his face.

"ANBU?" Naruto stepped back and glared at them both. Flesh and bone, that's all they were, not a monster serpent, and yet they still called them selves Sanin. He turned away and swallowed a growl.

"Naruto." The voice was like a line in the dark, an anchor to grasp at.

"Iruka." He turned back to the mostly forgotten man. His first one. His. . .

"He's abandoned you."

. . . father. . .

"No." Naruto closed his eyes against the images of the silver haired Copy Cats near death. He'd nearly given his life for Naruto on far to many ocations. "No, he would never, NEVER. . ." He opened his eyes to a sad flat smile and brown eyes gazing softly at him.

Iruka stepped up to him and took both of his shoulders in his hands. "Do you remember last time we talked about him, in the Hokage's office?"

_Naruto twisted around and looked up at his former teacher. "Aren't you leaving?"_

_Iruka ignored the question. "You just said when you woke up Kakashi was gasping for air." He turned and gave Naruto a soft pained look. "Were you sleeping in his room?"_

_Naruto froze and look up in to the clear brown eyes of his former teacher. "I. . ." He stood fully and shifted nervously on his feet. "I was." He said flatly._

_"Why?"_

_Naruto scrambled for an answer. All of his inner torment, all of his horrible dreams, they were nothing he wanted the other ninja to see. Not after he'd been so very kind. But he knew he couldn't lie to Iruka, the man was a teacher of children after all. He could spot a lie a mile away before it had even been told. Naruto remembered all of the times he'd been caught in a lie as a student. Just for a moment he felt like he was in the principles office all over again about to be questioned and subsequently punished for some thing he'd done. He'd never been able to lie his way out of a bad situation with Iruka around._

_"Naruto?" Iruka folded his arms over his chest. "I want honesty here, young man."_

_"I'm worried about him." He finally replied, desperate for an answer that would pass the grade. It wasn't a lie, but it didn't tell the truth._

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Yes. What about it?"

"Do you remember what I told you about him? About hos he killed one of his own team mates?" Iruka's smile was dry, cold, but there was honesty in his eyes.

"Yes."

_The whole scenario sent a shiver down his spine. . . he looked the teacher in the eyes. "What are you talking about?"_

_"He may try to kill you."_

_"That's insane! Kakashi would NEVER hurt one of his own team mates!"_

_"He already has." The strange kind smile lingered, but some thing else entirely was visible in his eyes._

Naruto pulled out of Iruka's grasp slowly, and turned to the two Sanin still standing behind him. "Is it true? Did he kill one of his own teammates?"

Jiray shifted, butwould not look him in the eyes. Tsunade glanced at him only for a moment, then her gaze landed on the floor.

_Iruka had never lied to him, not once. But some thing felt different, unnatural. Remembering Kakashi's promise from the night before Naruto clenched his fists, angry and fearful. "He is my teacher. He would never hurt me. He will never hurt one of his own team mates."_

_"You do not know what I know." Iruka firm grip tightened. The strange smile morphed in to a sinister sneer. "I only want to protect you."_

Naruto turned back to Iruka. "Tell me what you know."

"I'm afraid it's classified." Iruka looked up to the others. "I can't tell you any thing. . ." He looked back in to Naruto's eyes, soft brown meeting livid blue. "I can only tell you that I want you to stay away form him. Please."

Naruto glanced down at his own feet. "I have to help him. If he's hurt because he thinks I'm dead then all I have to do is show him I'm alive." He glanced back up. "Right?"

"Naruto." Jiray's voice held a little more strenght. "You might be right."

Naruto turned to him. "Where is he, I have to find him, Jiraya."

"Yes, but, Iruka is correct." Jiraya finally looked up, his expression dark and hard. "Kakashi is in a very bad state right now. Your death triggered memories of the most painful missions he's ever faced. He did kill a tam mate, one he loved very, very much. She was supposedly dead, but he found her by accident and she attacked him."

"She?" Naruto asked, his mind trying to proses the new information. "If he killed her then she was the enemy. He shouldn't feel bad about that."

"How would you feel if you were forced to kill Sasuke?" Jiraya asked slowly.

A freezing cold chill filled his gut and the room tilted. "I. . ." He shook his head and he lifted his hand to his temple, trying to clear the sudden realization and _horror_. "Kakashi." He closed his eyes and swallowed the horrible feeling that was welling up in side of him.

Iruka's hand found it's way to his shoulder once more. "I'm asking you, please, he's dangerous now. Stay away from him."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked up in to Iruka's worried face. "I have to go to him. I can't leave him, not knowing that it's my fault." He lowered his hand and looked up at Jiraya. "We have to find him."

Tsunade looked up slowly, with dark hopeless eyes. "He's probably just come off the wall guard duty I assigned to him. He may have gone home by now."

Naruto pulled out of Iruka's grasp and looked up in to his eyes. Fiery blue meeting deep pools of brown that were flecked with sapphire. "Iruka, I _have_ to go to him."

Iruka stood for a moment, face oddly dark, before he straightened up and smiled a little. "I know you do." The smile was dry, hollow. "I just want you to be prepared. He's not the same person you remember."

"No matter what's happened to him, I know my teacher is still in there." He turned on his heal and walked towards the door, stepping over the remains of his former infection. He straightened his vest and tugged his cat suit sleeves straight. Grabbing the door knob hard he turned and looked back at Tsunade. "Hokage."

She turned slowly, almost painfully. "Yes?"

"When I find him, and I will find _him_, and my team is whole, We need to have a _talk_." He yanked the door open and looked out in to the empty medical hall.

"I'm coming too." Jiraya stepped up to his side and looked down with a small smile. "Kakashi believed you had the power to change people, even him."

Naruto smiled, just a little. "He's never given up before."

Jiraya's smile faded for a moment, then slowly crept back, turning at length in to a grin. "You know, you may be right. He went to the ANBU to help protect what you love, and I know some where inside he's still trying to protect you. We should show him that he still can."

Naruto's own smile shifted in to a grin and for once since the whole mission with the Akatsuki in Sand he felt a trace of his old self reignite. "What are we waiting for then! Lets go!"

Jiraya set his hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his dirty blond hair. "That's it! That's what we need! There is nothing you can't do, I believe, Naruto. Lets go save Kakashi!"

Naruto laughed and launched out of the door. "BELIVE IT!"

…...

Guy rounded the corner of one still mostly empty quiet dawn street and tried not to drag his feet. The students. . . Oh how his heart ached for the students. He would be the one who would see them first, and he would be the one to have to tell them about Akamaru and Choji. It hurt, physically, in his chest, to even think of telling them about what had happened.

It just might brake little Hinata's heart, and that might finally brake his.

Laughter drifted over the air, seeming to mock his very feelings. The laughter was bright, and familiar. His head lifted a little.

Very familiar.

Guy walked on, and came to a long covered back street. It was dark and cold, the night was still clinging to the damp brick and stone, but ahead was the light.

Laughter from a sunny voice drifted through the slowly warming air.

Then all at once the dark gave away to the brightest morning Guy had ever seen, and in this morning's center Naruto stood, arms tucked behind his head, grinning form ear to ear, and clad in full ninja garb.

Guy had to stop and just look. Tears welled up in his eyes again at the shear brilliance of the moment. Hope was raining down like hot sun beams on every leaf in the village. Naruto was the sun, and the glowing day star had to squint to look at him, Guy was sure of it.

"Naruto." He spread his arms wide and ran. "NARUTO!"

Naruto tried to move out of Guy's way, but could not escape the hug that was thrust upon him. "Oi OI!" The blond cried out as they both fell to the ground. Guy sobbed, freely, in to the dull uniform Naruto had on. "Guy Sensei!" Naruto pushed against his arms, but they would not move.

"YOU ARE ALIVE!"

"Not or long if you crush me!" Naruto thrashed a little. "Off. OFF!"

Guy let go and sat back, only dimly await that Jiraya was chuckling some where in the distance and saying some thing about 'quick healing'.

Naruto glared and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm on a mission. It's very important! I can't be delayed."

"What ever it is you have to set it aside and come with me." Guy grabbed on to his arm and pulled him to his feet.

Naruto pulled his arm away with a quick jerk. "No, this is the most important thing I can be doing. I have to find. . ."

"Who ever you are looking for, who ever it is, Naruto, forget it." Guy could feel desperation swelling up in side. As his feelings bubbled up so did the tears.

Naruto stood firm, but relaxed just a bit. "OK Guy-sensei, slow down, what are you trying to get me to do?" A look that betrayed the blond's youth to budding age washed over his face. Guy wasn't sure if he liked it or not... but he was listening, that was the most imperative thing.

"It"s Kakashi. . ."

"Kakashi. That's who I'm looking for!" Naruto grabbed his shoulders and held tight. "Where is he? Is he OK?"

Guy stood in the intense gaze and inhumanly strong grip, marveling at the teen who was supposed to be dead. There was a new fire in his eyes, and an new strength. "He thinks you are dead." Guy replied, all of the feelings clashing so hard they left him almost emotionally void in the middle. "He needs you now."

"Yeah, I know."

"No, you don't." Guy felt the flood of past fear and hope towards his eternal rival rush him and he hung his head. "Kakashi is not like other people, Naruto. When people he loves die a part of him dies too." He looked up again as he remembered a distraught silver haired child with dead eyes going through the motions of deadly moves. The blank face and the black mask hiding pain Guy could never comprehend.

"But I'm not dead!" Naruto snapped. "We can fix this!"

"We can, because I believe you can." Jiraya said firmly. "But we can't fix it here." The sage looked up and Guy could feel the faith in Naruto radiating off of every inch of the old wrinkled body.

Doubts clung to his mind, but Naruto's radiant light chased most of them away.

Most.

"Come on, we'll try his apartment." Guy smiled. "I believe in you too, Naruto!" He gave the blond his best 'thumbs up' sign.

"YEAH! Lets go!" Naruto took off in to a run and Guy had to press hard to keep up.

…...

Sakura wasn't sure where she was, but there was a bed. Dimly she knew that she was still in the hospital, and that this room was for the staff, but what exact room, she was not clear on. She sat down on the bed and pulled off the heavy, gore slimed, toe trapping, boots. Wriggling her toes was one of the most wonderful feeling she had ever felt in the world. Boots were safer, yes, but almost unbearably stuffy.

Her eyes started to slide shut before she could fully lay down. A shadow filled with odd chakra flickered from some where in the distance. All of the horror from the past few days rushed through her at once and her eyes snapped back open. For a moment she glanced Shikamaru slinking through the halls.

Standing on wobbly legs she walked up to the door and peered out. Shikamaru was peering in to a patients room with a dark cold look on his face. The aura he was sending out was so unlike his normal aura that it made her stomach churn. Still, if he was in the hospital for some one, he could have been under stress.

Sakura's head dipped, even as she was trying to watch the other teen, and she fell half asleep where she was standing. Groggily she shoved her worry to the farthest reaches of he mind and staggered to the bed. She dropped down and fell over on to her side, asleep literally before her head hit the pillow.

Moments latter the dark shadow slid over her body for a moment, sinister, and cold, before vanishing completely.

…...

Guy stood before Kakashi's apartment door and pounded on it hard. Behind him he could feel Naruto's hot breath on his neck and feel Jiraya's bodily warmth drifting through the cramped hall way. He pounded once more.

"Kakashi there's some one here to see you!"

Only silence greeted them. Glancing back he could see the deeply furrowed lines of worry on Jiraya's face. It was such a strong look of worry that a cloud of fear passed over Guy's heart, blocking some of Naruto's hopeful eagerness. Guy turned back to the door and pounded again.

"Jiraya. . . where else could he be?" He glanced back at the old man.

Naruto followed his gaze and some of that exuberant energy drained. "Pervy-sage?"

Jiraya shrugged a little. "There are a lot of places he could go, but as worn out as he is this would be the only place I could think he'd go willingly."

Fear kicked up in Guy's heart then, cold and harsh. "Tell me, is it like _that time_?"

Jiraya's head fell again and his eyes misted. "It's, bad, just like then."

"Just like when?" Naruto demanded. "What are you talking about?"

"It has some thing to do with the Fourth Hokage." Guy answered honestly. "His former Sensei."

Naruto's brows furrowed. "The more I hear about the Fourth the more I don't like him." He balled his fists for a moment, then his face turned truly sower. "Move." With a soft growl he shoved Guy out of the way and lifted his own fist to the door. "KAKASHI SENSEI! OPEN UP!" He pounded hard, nearly splintering the wood.

Still there was only silence. Jiraya tossed a look of dread towards Guy, who's heart shivered with the horrible thought that Kakashi might be. . .

"That's it, I'm kicking in the door. Naruto, stay here." Jiraya moved Naruto to thew side before leveling his gaze on Guy. "Both of you stay until I have cleared the apartment." He took a stance and readied him self to kick in the door.

"Why?" Naruto asked. "Is he in danger?"

Guy pulled him back and held the youth's shoulders gently. "We don't know that yet." But he was so very afraid that he already knew.

Jiraya kicked out with a loud cry and wood shattered. A startled yelp sounded form with in the apartment. A yelp that was NOT human.

"Pakun!" Naruto shoved Guy back so hard he slammed in to the opposite wall and saw stars. "Pakun! Why didn't you answer us?"

The pug shook off wood splinters. "I was yelling my muzzle off, but the apartment must have been sound proofed."

Guy exchanged a worried glance with Jeraia. Naruto caught it and scowled. "Why would he sound proof his apartment?"

"He. . .Some times when a person is in a lot of pain. . . when he was young. . ." Jiraya abandoned the train of thought with a heavy sigh. "Some times adults do that?" He offered, trying to make it sound suggestive.

Naruto glared hotly. "What are you hiding from me?"

Guy winced. "A more important question is 'where is Kakashi'?"

Naruto scooped Pakun up and held him securely. "Do you know where he might be?"

"No, I could track him, but if he's really determined to be alone he'll have masked his sent. I can't smell any thing from the hallway except the sent he left when he came in."

Naruto set Pakun down and then straightened back up with fire in his eyes. "Stand back."

Jiraya stepped out in to the hall and backed away quickly.

"You to Guy-Sensei. I'm going to look for him my self!" He brought his hands up and started to sign. In seconds clones filled very square inch of the apartment's floor. Each of them looked grim and determined. "GO!" Naruto shouted.

Guy had to press him self hard against the wall to keep him self from being trampled.

When each had cleared out Naruto stepped in to the hall, his eyes dark, and his fists balled. "Not enough room in here." He turned and started to march down the hall. "I need to get out side."

How many is he going to make?" Guy asked, his heart trembling with excitement.

"As many as it takes." Jiraya replied with a grin.

Guy watched as Naruto walked on, his new boots sounding like tightly controlled thunder over the hard wood floor. For just a moment Guy could not see the loud mouthed blond kid that had been trust upon his eternal rival, but the Hokage. He wasn't sure if it was the past Hokage, or the future Hokage, but he saw THE Hokage. "He's. . . really going to save Kakashi, isn't he?"

"No," Jiraya's voice was hushed awe. "He's going to save us all. He's _The One_."

…...

Fuka stood near the Hokage who was nearly quivering.

"My lady." He offered, gently, smiling softly, with out feeling.

"Orochimaru is dead and Naruto is back." She whispered. "And he hates me."

Fuka reached out and set his hand on her shoulder. He caught his reflection in the window. Iruka was disheveled, his hair hanging limp around his shoulders, and his eyes burning with a million emotions. "Naruto is, has always been, and will always be, his own person." Fuka stared at the reflection eying him. "But he has me now."

Tsunade looked up, and forced a smile. "I' glad you were here. I just don't know if he can forgive me, but I know he'll be OK with you close by."

Fuka's smile widened just a little. Iruka sank down the glass, looking so very badly torn and hopeless that it seemed like he'd expire right there. "I'm more worried about how he will react to Kakashi. The Copy Cat ninja is dangerous. I just hope nothing happens between Naruto and him."

Tsunade looked up, here eyes coming back in to focus. "He loves Kakashi."

"He also has the pain and rage and power of two tailed beasts in side of him. Kakashi has the Mangekyo Sharingan. The only thing reported as having the power to control a tailed beast. He did kill that woman, Rin."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed and she bit the nail of her thumb. "He'd never hurt Naruto."

"He'd never _mean_ to." Fuka stepped up to the window and stuffed his hands in to his pockets. Iruka was looking up at him and shaking his head. The teacher's eyes were wide, wild, and filled with shock.

'_Pleas don't do this_.' He looked like an insane person trapped in a mental ward. His hair was stringy, limp, his eyes blood shot. '_I just got him back, don't do this_! _**LET ME OUT**_!'

'_Quiet_.' Fuka replied. '_You are weak, and you will not do what must be done._'

"He'll use his eye to try and harness Naruto's powers." Tsunade said after a moment.

Fuka glanced sideways at her. "I had thought he might, yes."

Iruka slammed up in to the reflection, pounding against the glass. '_Don't you dare TOUCH my son! I'll KILL YOU_!'

"It's sad, how devoted some people have become to him, it blinds them to the reality of who or what he is." Fuka turned his back on the reflection. "But we both know the truth."

"What truth?" Tsunade asked, sounding almost bitter sweet. "That he's the most powerful human being to have ever walked this side of a ninja war? Or that he's supposed to be The One, the person who will end all ninja wars?"

"The truth that he's a child, and he's got no idea how high of a price people will put on his head. He's not a normal human being, and he needs guidance, training, and support. Can Kakashi give that to him?"

Tunade ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. "No, he's to unstable now. Even if Naruto can snap him out of his depression he's gone through ANBU immersion. His emotional self was locked away and it can take months of reprogramming to undo that."

Fuka stepped up to Tsunade and gazed mildly at her. "He trusts me. And I trust him. And I trust you."

She looked up at him and let go of her thumb. "You don't have the rank to train your own students, not out in the field."

"He's a double Jinchuriki. Who in the woeld has the rank? A Sanin? He killed Orochimaru." Fuka smiled once more, coldly, as he thought of the sheer power that had to have taken. "Kakashi is dangerous and I'm. . ." He tilted his head and glanced over to Iruka, who had curled in on him self. ". . . just a lowly _paper pusher_."

She looked at him with a dower frown. "At this point in time, for his own safety, I can't let him out of the city, or even on another mission. I agree he needs to be kept away from Kakashi for the time being, after today, and I agree that those two could be a problem."

"Then will you allow me to keep an eye on him?"

Tsunade nodded. "I. . ."

The door opened with a knock, cutting Tsunade off, and Shiziune walked in. "Iruka, I'm glad you are still here!" She shut the door and beamed at him. "Who would have thought! Naruto! I can't believe it!"

"Well, Believe it." Fuka offered with a small dry laugh.

Shizune laughed a clear, happy laugh, in response. Then cleared her throat and attempted to look some what serous. "I know you won't exactly like this, but you still have to stay with me for a little while. I couldn't get the orders rescinded."

Fuka moved back to the window and looked past Iruka - who was rocking back and forth and hugging his knees, staring blankly and mumbling to him self - out to where the city sprawled in the now bright sunshine. A flicker of movement on the roof tops caught his attention and he spotted a half dozen Naruto clones searching.

"I'm fine with the orders, so long as it won't put you at any risk." Fuka replied. "So long as you don't mind Naruto being there while I'm there. I'm going to take over Naruto's care until. . ." He trailed off and turned to Tsunade.

"Until Naruto is cleared from any dangers of having two beasts with in him, AND the threat of the Akatuki is eliminated once and for all. With two tailed beasts they'll want him more than ever." She set one hand on her hip fisted the other. "Orocimaru is dead, thanks to him, but it's far to dangerous for him to go on any missions out side of our walls."

"Do you think he'll just sit back and let you restrict him to the village?" Shizune asked. "What about his quest to find Sasuke?"

Tsunade's gaze leveled on to Fuka. "Can you keep him out of harms way, and keep him in this city?"

He turned back to the window and the despairing reflection of Iruka. "Lady Hokage," he smiled levelly, coldly, and watched the clones rush by, "Naruto is the future of this world. As his father it's my _duty_ to protect him." He gazed down coldly at Iruka. "Even if it's from the people he loves."

…...

_To my dear old friend, _

_I am tired, yes, but tired of conflict, not of living. It is true my mind has clouded, but not with the fog of age, but with the mist of love. I love Minato as if he were a precious grandchild, and I will _not_ allow you to continue to torture him to gain what power you think humanity needs for survival. You see, my old friend, there is some thing you simply can not grasp; Minato is more than a vessel to fill with the hate of the tailed beasts, he is a __**person**__. He exists just as you or I, as flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood. _

_When the people reject someone's every existence and then look at that person, their eyes become cold, cold as an ice storm in the deepest winter. I refuse to let fear for my life, or fear for my people, freeze me in to one path of action._

_I will embrace the_ will of fire_, and I will live and die with that fire in my breath, in my very heartbeat. And I will not let my grandchild, blood or no blood, face the atrocities you have laid out for him a second time. He is NOT The One you have placed your hopes on. The experiments Will Not Work._

_The One, who will arrive, very shortly I must add, will not need your aid in fulfilling his duties to the world. He will not need your cold science, and your frozen logic to forge the will of fire for all to live in peace, free of war. He will need time, and love, and the touch of humanity. _

_If you can not provide that for the future then you can not understand what it is that makes the future worth living for._

_Your Hokage past and present, Saratobi._

_

* * *

_

* * *

Possible text from the next chapter_:_

Pakun caught the faint sent of his master and tried to call out a warning to Naruto, but the boy was already to far ahead.

"Don't let him startle Kakashi!" Pakun barked back. "He's completely unhinged!"

Jiraya roared ahead and snatched Naruto up mid stride. They all skidded to a halt.


	27. Falling Leaves

I have a lot I could say about this chapter, but when ever I try to think of what I want to say all I can think of is "Let the writing speak for it's self". A lot of people have been waiting for a LONG TIME for THIS chapter, and I REALLY hope I haven't screwed it up! I . . . I have a LOT I could say, like I said, but I'll be quiet now.

I hope you enjoy it. I REALLY loved writing it.

* * *

Chapter 22: Falling Leaves

_To my dear friend and equal, Saratobi,_

_Your sentiments are touching, and your dedication to those you consider family heart warming. You say that The One is yet to be born, and you also say that Minato is expecting a child. I can not help but hope the two are in fact one and the same. I in fact believe this to be so with every fiber of my being. I have heard that Minato has even picked out a name for the child, Naruto. The name comes from a book his teacher, and your student, Jiraya the Toad Sage, has written. _

_Family, I am sure, is the driving force behind your actions. If that is the case then I ask no more from you regarding this manner. I would never force a brother of mine to subject his grandsons to any thing as unpleasant as a forcing upon of powers, such as that of the tailed beasts. _

_I respect your human sentiment that the future will go on with or with out you, and I will accept that you no longer wish to participate in my plans. I will not abandon my hopes for the future, however, nor will I be shackled by frail human bonds. I will find another way to advance my research and I feel that it is my duty to warn you, as your brother, that you may not wish to hold your bonds to tightly to a creature that isn't even born yet. Many complications could arise during a birth, and one must accept that human lives are frail._

_My deepest sympathy to your human heart, Danzo._

…...

"Keep your head down." Konahamaru hissed as Udon felt a hand shove him roughly back.

Udon, his real name Kyuuten Kyuutou, and last of the Kyuutou clan, survivor of the city's most hostile bank robbery in known history, and voted least likely to survive the first mission he was sent on post-academy, curled in on him self with a tremble. He glanced down at his shaking fingers and felt them going limp. He'd be unable to form a single seal now. This nerve inducing paralysis is what had earned him his food themed name long ago.

He's had this condition ever since... Well, he wasn't going to think about it now. At least he wasn't going to let the memories of _that time_ him screw up now.

"The old hag will never find us here." Konohamaru was glaring out pasty the aria where kids were learning to throw all sorts of weapons. "But that doesn't mean she won't spot us and skin us if we make the wrong move."

Numbers, give him _numbers_, solid, real, unchanging, emotionless, **_NUMBERS_**, and he was happy. He could sit for hours alone doing math problems - like all of his kin had once been given to do – and he'd never need any thing else. People, with the anger and the joy and the sadness and all around soft, fuzzy, and emotionally random states of mind tended to unnerve him.

Especially when they were stronger than he was, which was about 92.2116% of the population his age and older. Only a hand full on non ninja trained kids were, in his secret opinion, not as strong as he, and they hall had some thing wrong from birth.

Moegi seemed to be happy, even excited by the prospect of their self appointed mission, and Udon was all to happy to let her sit in front of him and peer around the corner. "We need to cause those brats to panic. That would give us good cover." She looked back. "I could go back for the lab's snakes and hamsters. Letting the two things loose out here would do the trick."

"Wouldn't the snakes eat them?" Udon asked in shock. Horror filtered in to his already buzzing mind at the thought of the little fuzzy school pets being eaten by the not so little and fuzzy school pets in front of the small kids.

"No." Moegi shook her head and rolled her eyes. "You know our snakes are fish fed. You couldn't get them to eat a hamster if they were starving."

"Oh. . ." Udon's brain tucked that fact away.

"No, no we need some one. . ." Konahamaru shot Udon a sharp glare, "to use his clan's one and ONLY power to get us the heck out of here."

Udon glanced down at his trembling fingers. "I can't!" More fear shook him and he had to open his mouth to breath. He wanted an education, yes, and as an orphan he was entitled to a free education in any one of the city schools. Unfortunately his chakra levels had been high enough for the powers that be to consider him ninja worthy material. "I can't _jump_." He clenched his fists as hard as he could, but he could feel the gentle sunny air flow between every finger.

"Come ON!" Konahamaru whispered. "We have to find Iruka and help him. If the rumors are true. . ."

Moegi cut in. "Iruka-sensei would never kill him self!" Her eyes flashed some sort of darkness that Udon couldn't quite place. "And Naruto isn't dead, that's all propaganda produced by the anti Jincuriki people. You know what they did to Naruto's house, they'll say and do any thing to make people stop believing in Naruto."

"You don't _KNOW_ that." Konahamaru argued, but still managed to keep his voice low.

"My dad said it was what happened, and he's never wrong." She folded her arms.

"He was wrong about the. . ." Udon tried, but Konahamaru ran over his words.

"Moegi, what if some thing BAD happened to Iruka-sensei? He was talking to DANZO! I _HATE_ that guy, grandpa hated that guy! Uncle Asuma doesn't even like him and he likes just about every body!" Konahamaru's fists clenched in a way Udon envied.

"Why?" She asked.

For some reason, one Udon couldn't quite figure, her question caused Konahamaru's face to turn red. "How should I know?"

"You used to snoop in all of the Hokage's files when Iruka was looking after you, you have to know some thing." She tightened her folded arms.

Udon let his arms fall to his sides as the shaky numb was spreading.

"Well. . . I do remember some thing." Konahamaru glanced over to Udon and frowned. "Your dad taught the Fourth how to do that jump thing, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it was our clan's blood line limit technique. The fourth didn't really. . ."

"What's so hot about jumping? It's just transportation jutsu, right?" Moegi asked, inturupting, her eyes rolling.

"No." Udon blurted. "It's not like going from one point in a city to another."

Both sets of eyes focused on him and he swallowed. His tongue felt numb. Very soon he'd have to lean back and rest his body as the rest of him went limp. He'd drag his team down, he really would, and the truant officer would find them and then they would all be in BIG trouble and he'd be made to stay after class and people would laugh at him and the odds of them all. . .

"UDON!" Konahamaru hissed.

"S-sorry." He swallowed. "What was I talking about?"

"Your Clan's jumping ability."

"Oh." He tried to fold his fingers together, to will some warmth back in to them. Even with the hot sun shining down they felt like ice. "Yeah, it's... we can go really far. Really _really_ far. But that's all we can do." He looked down at his shaking fingers. "All we can do is run away." Memories filtered in to his mind, bad ones, he couldn't press them all back. "Run until we run out of places to run to." He could still remember what his dad smelled like. Like ink and gold dust. They had been bankers. . .

Bankers, a whole clan, and gone in one night. He shuddered. Not one of them had ever been a ninja. "Lets go back guys." He looked up. "If the teachers or some one find us. . ."

"We are NOT going back." Konahamaru clenched a steady fist. Udon gazed at it wistfully. "We have to find out what happened to Iruka, and I KNOW that Danzo jerk has had some thing to do with it. I saw them talking. And Iruka got mad, you saw it, he wasn't _normal_!"

"I know that's why we are out here!" Moegi whisper-hissed. "So, where do we go first?"

"Hokage's file storage room. Danzo is ALWAYS lurking around in there reading stuff and talking to the old people. It's like their secret club house or some thing."

Udon stifled a groan of protest. "We could be put in jail for that sort of thing, or worse!"

Konahamaru's eyes narrowed. "Iruka has been gone for DAYS, Udon, don't be such a wet blanket. YOU will be the one to get us away once we have every thing we need. YOU _WILL __**JUMP**_!"

Udon's stomach churned so violently he thought he may throw up. "No. . ."

"Yes!" Konahamaru grabbed one of his icy arms and started to haul him up. Moegi pulled on the other.

"This is.. is like a B-ranked mission!" Udon squawked. "We haven't been cleared from C yet!"

"No." Konahamaru said quietly. "This is an A ranked mission, and your blood line limit will make it work. It has to. We can't let Naruto down. Even if he is my rival!"

…...

Pakun's legs were burning from the strain he was putting on them. He could run fast, every nin-dog could, but this was beyond fast. The human's were keeping up with him in his mad dash, but Naruto's speed was faltering now and then despite his determination. Even at this wind sucking speed he could catch Naruto's all telling sent. The teen was clearly exhausted and his blood was thin. How he was still awake was beyond Pakun at the moment, but right now he just didn't care.

"Not much farther." He called as the trees broke in to a vast grassy clearing.

"Hero's stone!" Naruto suddenly shouted. He raced ahead, even as his body trembled with fatigue.

Pakun caught the faint sent of his master. It was an atrocious mix of violence and pain, like the lingering rot smells of a weak old battle field still littered with the living. What was more was there was killing intent, but no target gave it aim, and it wavered about like deadly tentacles, searching for prey. The little nin-dog tried to call out a warning to Naruto, but the boy was already to far ahead.

"Don't let him startle Kakashi!" Pakun barked back. "He's completely unhinged!"

Jiraya roared ahead and snatched Naruto up mid stride. They all skidded to a halt, where Pakun staggered in the grass and sat down, gasping.

"HEY!" Naruto thrashed a little, then stilled as he looked around, his sharp blue eyes taking in the others. "What is it?" Wide eyed he glanced ahead to where the stone was a small dot in the huge clearing. A shadowy mass was next to it.

Jiraya and Might Guy exchanged dark glances. Naruto looked up in to their faces and paled a hung his head.

"_What_?" He twisted and looked out to where Kakashi was bent low.

"Naruto. . ." Pakun gulped again at the air and stood. "Kakashi is. . ."

The killing intent suddenly found their presence and _focused_.

Naruto gasped, and Jiraya let him down. The wind shifted and for a moment Pakun could only sense shock from the blond. The sharp black energy of murder swayed, sharp, and pointed, towards them all. Then Naruto's energy shifted in an instinctive defensive response.

"He's. . ." Tears filled the blood shot blue eyes. "_Insane_."

…...

Shikamaru slid in to Choji's room silently. Under one arm he held a file tightly. A thin, crooked smile was smeared over his face. Stepping in soundlessly he shut the door and locked it.

"Choji."

The large teen sleeping before him took a heavy breath, but did not wake up.

"I will have my vengeance for you." Shikamaru stepped up to the bed and reached out to skim his free hand over Choji's cheek. His thumb stopped over his team mate's dry lower lip.

"Some people look for enlightenment." Shadows crwaled from his thumb down through lax teeth. Shikamaru took a breath and closed his eyes as he felt the blood pump in the dark of his team mate's throat. He shivered at how the soft inner flesh yielded to the dark tendrils weaving their way from his finger tips.

"Like this you are so weak. A child could kill you." The smile scrawled wider. "That's the problem with the strong in this world. They think that if they have enlightenment they'll be strong. They look for the bright hope in the world. Like Naruto. He's always trying to save his best friend."

The shadows dug deeper, and found the throbbing of Choji's heart.

"His best friend the Uchiha." Shikamaru lifted the file with his other hand and looked down at it. "The Uchiha had their Dojutsu to hide behind but do you want to know some thing?"

He let the shadows crawl in to ever inch of his team mates heart.

"I've been given a secret that the Fourth Hokage figured out."

The heart trembled under the strange touch.

"Dojustsu is just refined Ninjustsu. And any one who has chakra can learn any Ninjustsu, because ninjustsu is a lesser form of Ninshu." Shikamaru pulled his shadows back and gripped the file tightly with both hands. "Lord Danzo showed me the darkest secret any ninja has ever known." Glancing down he flashed white teeth in an almost predatory grin. "You don't need an Uchiha eye to read an Uchiha Dojutsu encrypted file."

The grin faded, and he pulled away from the bed. "What you do need is time, and that is some thing I don't have, so I was given a short cut." He set his hand down on Choji once more, his fingers curling around the other teen's throat. "I was given a transcript of the Naka shrine papers and they will help me unlock my potential as a ninja. They show the truth of darkness. What one must become to be truly strong."

He slid his fingers back up to Choji's lips and let his shadows slide down once more. "You see a ninja must let go of his feelings towards any thing that would make him weak. A ninja must not have feelings of compassion, or remorse, he must not cry, or love." The shadows swirled and honed in on the throbbing heat beat. "I'm sorry Iruka's actions brought you here. He will pay for that." Shikamaru pushed his shadows in to every cell of the organ.

"But the real truth under that is far more simple."

…...

"You don't understand!" Udon thrust his heals in to the dirt and leaned back, but his tame mates were dragging him on discreetly any way. "It's a blood line limit, it could take YEARS to master!"

Konahamaru gave him a strong look. "The Fourth Hokage learned it in ten minutes, and it wasn't even HIS blood line."

"Dad said there was some thing about the Fourth that made it possible for him to learn it." Udon managed past an ever more numb tongue. "But more importantly, he didn't. He couldn't just jump to any place he wanted to, he had to use clones, or objects, to act as a P.O.A."

"P.O.A.?" Mogi asked, tilting her head.

"Point of Arrival." Udon explained. "I'm just a KID, how am I supposed to know how to do any of this stuff?"

Konahamaru dragged all three of them behind a building and glanced to see if they had been followed. Once satisfied they were alone, and would stay alone, he bored his eyes in to Udon's. "I know you can use it. My grandpa said you could."

Udon gulped. "H-he d-d-d-did?" Every thing was shutting down now. His whole body was going limp. He could feel snot oozing from his nose, even as his face was going numb.

"You are so gross." Moegi let him go with a shove.

"Yes, my grandpa said you used your jump blood line limit to save your self from those guys who robbed your dad's bank."

The moment the words entered Udon's ears the world around him vanished. His eyes could only see bank statements, fire and blood. "I ran away. We all ran away but they found me but I RAN AWAY!" He could feel him self sinking. "They came after me with a Kunai and Mom told me to run so I DID."

A harsh slap brought him back to the light of day. He blinked and rubbed his cheek as Konahamaru glared down at him. "Oi, hold your self together." He shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. "You can't be falling apart when Iruka-sensei needs us."

Udon turned his eyes down to his feet. "But. . ." He let his hand fall away. His face didn't hurt like it should have. "I don't know how I did it."

"You did it before, and you can do it again." Moegi offered, but would not touch him.

"Yeah, you can do it." Konahamaru said, pumping his fist. "Now come on, what ever secrets are hidden in the dark, we need to bring to the light of day!"

…...

Naruto blinked back tears. _I will cry when I get __**HOME**_. He straightened and took a step forward, facing the jagged edges of killing intent, as he'd faced the sharp fangs of the snakes that had eaten him alive.

He'd been so afraid that he'd been swamped by the raccoon. Sai's comfort had pulled him back from the horror, now he just hoped he could do the same for Kakashi.

_"How would you feel if you were forced to kill Sasuke?" Jiraya asked slowly._

_A freezing cold chill filled his gut and the room tilted. "I. . ." He shook his head and he lifted his hand to his temple, trying to clear the sudden realization and horror. "Kakashi." He closed his eyes and swallowed the horrible feeling that was welling up in side of him._

The silver haired teacher stood slowly, with pain clearly written over his movements. Naruto took another few steps closer. "Sensei?" He called softly.

Human rage stormed past him, around him, burning with the white hot lust for blood. It was like rain drops next to the Fox's usual tirades. Naruto felt his own inner universe calming by instinct honed from dealing with the Nine Tailed beast for so very long.

"It's me." He lifted his hands, showing the taller ninja that he was unarmed, and had no wish to fight. "I know you heard that I was dead and, well, yeah, I was but, see, some thing happened." He bit his tongue down on the information of the Raccoon, fearing that a shock now would only hurt his sensei. "It's like Garra, Kakashi." He went on, walking ever closer. "You can't kill a jinjiriki that easily."

A low whine sounded as a warning from near his ankle. He glanced down at Pakun, who was half hidden behind him.

"Naruto." He whispered. "Careful. He's. . . he can't even feel his physical pain right now."

Naruto winced. There had been times when he'd seen Kakashi throw him self so hard in to a fight that after wards his body simply gave out on him. He could see the small tremors now, the half hidden look of numb, and he could almost feel the weariness from the distance that still separated them. He could also feel wafts of fear in the chakra. Raw edgy dread that pored from every fiber of his being.

"Kakashi." Naruto called, a little louder, but void of any aggression or spark to provoke the man. The fear was like what the Raccoon projected, only smaller, weaker, like a cold drizzle. "I'm here. Talk to me." It had to be eating Kakashi alive from the inside out.

A shivering hand pulled out a kunai and held it up between them. Naruto stopped, now able to see the lone eye clearly, if only at a bit of a distance.

"My name is not Kakashi." The killing intent sharpened to small claws. "I am ANBU Wolf." The words were growled out, resounding with a warning of danger, like a wild animal cornered. "You are _not_ my student." He backed away, fear coming off in waves. "Stay _away_ from me." He growled again. "I will kill you. I am Wolf!"

"Kill me. . . Kakashi!" He couldn't keep the tremor out of his own voice. "You are my teacher. I need you! I need your help."

The wind kicked up again, and Kakashi swayed. The little tongue of black steal stayed firmly between them however, and sparks of electricity exploded from it's shining edges. Chakra, Naruto realised, was once more available to the Copy Cat Ninja, but not like what there had been.

"Stay _Back_!"

The subtle breeze seemed like it would blow Kakashi over. Naruto took in the thin frame and the quivering shapes where muscles were supposed to be and knew that he could kill Kakashi. Any one could kill him. His heart dropped and he gulped down the horrible feeling of loss.

"Why?" He lowered his hands a little, making him self smaller, less of a visible threat. "I'm not going to hurt you, no one here is ever going to hurt you. I won't let any thing happen to you."

The lone eye narrowed. "Monster." The kunai waved, pointing from Naruto's boot clad feet, to his still dirty hair. "That's what you are. An abomination." He took another step back, his eyes flickering over the others. "I will not let you do what she did! I'll kill you first, all of you, before you hurt. . . I'm ANBU. . . My orders. . ."

"Kakashi." Jiraya called, also coming, slowly. "This is Naruto. This isn't like Rin." The Toad sage wrapped strong fingers over Naruto's shoulders and squeezed softly. "This isn't like The Fourth, or Obito. He's_ BACK_. See this, believe it."

Guy came up as well, tears poring freely down his cheeks. "I should have been here, to share your pain, I'm sorry, but it's OK now."

Naruto looked in to the lone exposed eye, searching for what he'd seen before. Longing for the lazy indifference masking a fierce and total trust and loyalty. "You said you wanted to protect me." Naruto reached out slowly. "I need you."

The eye glared and murderous, terrified, energy spiked. "You are not my problem any more, jinchuriki. **Monster**!" the last word ground out so harshly, so darkly, that it resonated in the air.

Memories filtered up from Naruto's past, memories of lonely days when every one called him 'monster'. Anger budded inside of his own chest, and was instantly taken up bu the Fox. "Listen, I don't have TIME for this. I need you to help me seal the Fox. You said you wanted to help me, to protect me, well I found away." He stepped closer. "You are the only one who can help me."

"You. . . you are alive, what could you possibly need from me now?" Kakashi's fingers tightened and the little sparks arched in to small bolts, but he stepped back away any way, terror mixing in with every thing else. "I can't protect you."

"You have to!" Naruto tried to bite back from yelling, but the rage was glowing red in the back of his mind. Fear too, so much stronger than the human's little anxieties that wafted up before him. It would be so easy to snap his neck. . . he held his temple. Rage, fear, _monster_. . . He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry.

_I will cry when I am home_.

He wanted blood, but he didn't know who's blood. Who ever had hurt Kakashi. . . Naruto would rip the man's heart out and feed it to him. Only. . . he'd already done that and fed it to him self. The memories welled up inside and his stomach churned. He'd eaten some one.

_I am a monster_.

"Naruto is loosing it." Pakun said from some where below and behind. "Do some thing!"

Guy rushed forward, and stopped half way between Naruto and Kakashi. "Please, by the reason of your own heart, by the passion of your love for Naruto and Sakura, listen to him, he's here and he needs you and he hurts for you as I do! Please, come back with us! Stand down, forget the ANBU. You are in pain. . . I can tell even past the mask that you. . ."

Mettle flung and Guy cried out in pain. Naruto looked down to where Guy was slowly falling to his knees, his hand covering the wound in his leg. Sparks still jumped from the weapon.

"Kakashi. . ."

"WOLF!" The silver haired ninja snarled. "I am Wolf and I am ANBU and I don't care if you are dead or alive, Uzumaki." He pulled out some thing small from a pocket.

"I _need _you."

"I don't care." The eye was sharp, cold, dark. "True ninja's have no feelings."

_I will cry._ He moaned to him self. _But when I am home! __** Home! **_

…...

"Ninshu." Shikamaru's shadows filled Choji's quivering heart. "Is the teaching that peace can only come when all of the humans in the world are united in harmony. Harmony can not come from love, or hate, or even fear." He pulled his hand tighter, drawing the darkness in to a crushing ball.

Choji gasped for air.

…...

Udon was half dragged, half shoved along through winding streets and back ally ways. The idea of jumping up to the roof tops had been suggested by Moegi, to make every thing faster, but Konahamaru replied, practically Udon thought, that there would be to many other ninja on the roves. They had to stay low and stay out of sight. It was a good point.

Besides that Udon didn't think his legs would work well enough to make all those physical jumps any way.

They rounded one shadowy corner and peered out in to the light. Before them, spread out like a militant castle of smooth stone walls and hidden defence alcoves, was the Hokage tower.

"You have been in the file room with me before, right, Udon?" Konahamaru asked, glancing back with a Naruto like grin.

Udon gulped. "Uh. . . Yeah."

"So you can just transport in to there." He let Udon go and leaned up against the wall. "It;s not even that far, I can see the window from here."

"If we were a little more practice WE could probably do it from here." Moegi added.

"But I can't. . ."

Moegi grabbed his shirt and pulled him to face her. "You will or I'll kick your ass!"

"Moegi!" Konahamaru snapped, then prided Udon free. "What in the. . ."

"Last time he used his jump thing he was afraid, right?" She shrugged. "So I thought I'd scare him."

Udon was glad Konahamaru had him, as his legs were now jelly. "I can't." He whispered. "I don't . . . I'm not a coward. . ."

Konahamaru sighed. "Darn it, Moegi, now he's rambling again."

Udon felt him self being pulled over to the wall and shoved down a little roughly. "She didn't mean it, OK? No one here is going to hurt you."

A shadow fell over them and Udon looked up. Perched on the stone wall above them, blackened by shadows, with glittering little beady eyes, was the mountainous truant officer.

"Bad children." She growled, her rolls of fat trembling as she spoke.

"Except for her." Moegi backed away. "I'll hold her off, you two run!"

"I'm not leaving you here!" Konahamaru grabbed Moegi before Udon felt him self being hauled to his feet. The woman started to slide down, her nails digging long marks in to the sculpted stone. Udon stumbled away, wide eyed and trembling. His hands lifted to sign, but they gave out, giving him even more credence to his nickname.

"No."

"UDON NOW! JUMP NOW!"

"_No_."

"UDON!"

Udon's head snapped over to Konahamaru as his legs firmed up. Reaching out he grabbed on to his team mates and RAN. The woman hit the pavement behind them and started to run as well, but her bulk slowed her down. Udon glanced back, caught a glimpse of her little black eyes, and gulped. His feet, nearly taking flight under him, found the street curb by accident, and he tumbled down.

His team mates ran ahead for a moment, then skidded to a stop.

Thundering towards him, picking up speed, the officer sneered. "Bad child." Udon's eyes widened as a humongous hand reached for him. Then a wave of blue cloth flew out and wrapped around the woman's eyes. She yelped and fell, like an ox dropped by a hunters bow, and slammed down beside Udon.

Some one else's hand grabbed him and pulled as the massive human next to thrashed. "MOVE!" Moegi cried.

Udon's legs once more found power and he ran again, heart pounding in his ears. He tore across the street, slammed in to the Tower's doors, tore them open, and let the building swallow him whole. A red headed woman suddenly appeared before him, surprised and unprepared. Flesh met flesh and papers went flying.

"S-s-s-sorry!"

He took to the steps, hearing Konahamaru's voice calling out to him, but did not stop. Two men with dazzling green energy flowing between them yelped and backed away. He slid under the sparkling stream of emerald and managed to call out another apology. He could hear one man cursing, and another saying they'd set the experiment up once more.

Around a corner he flew, and saw the door to the file room. It was closed, and looming up before him. He tried to stop, but the floor was slick. Chakra fluttered from his feet, but could bot grab the linoleum. Pain seemed all to imminent and he folded his arms over his face. Between his for limbs he saw blue flow once more.

Soft. Konahamaru's scarf was soft. It stretched as he slid, slowing him smoothly. He stopped, an inch from the door, and stood, arms still braced.

"Wow, you are fast!" Some one said. He lowered his arms slowly and leaned forward, setting his head on the door. He gasped, suddenly keenly aware that he had held his breath, and that the run had winded him any way. Shakily he panted, and turned his head slowly. The scarf fell from around him.

Konahamaru reeled his scarf back slowly as the two men who had been playing with green energy flanked him. The tall blond man looked upset, but not angry. The one with breown hair looked angry, but for some reason Udon didn't feel any thing scary from him.

"Hey, easy kid." He said. "What's the big hurry?"

Udon turned all the way around and leaned hard against the door, unable to speak.

"My name is Kouta." The brown haired man smiled. "You guys here for a reason?"

"We are on a secret mission." Konahamaru said, beaming, then paled. "Uh. . . I mean. . ."

Kouta laughed and ruffled Konahamaru's hair. "So what is it big guy? Save a princess? Get a stolen message back from aa ninja army?"

Moegi looked up at Kouta, batting eye lashes and looking 'cute' and 'sad'. "Our teacher is missing and we think some thing bad happened to him." She batted her eyes again and some how tears formed as if by magic. "We just want to see his file. It's not a top secret file, it's just.. it always lets us know if he's on a mission or some thing."

The blond knelt down in front of her, smiling. "You know children aren't really supposed to be here alone." He patted her head. "I'm Osamu, and I can help you look, if you'd like."

She cheered and tossed her arms around him, tossing a quick wink towards Konahamaru.

"Where is the file?" Kouta asked, then looked up and slapped hos for head with the palm of his hand. "That door says file room. I'll bet money that's it, right?"

Udon nodded numbly.

"All right, I'll let you guys in, but then you have to do some thing for us."

"What?" Konahamaru asked, his voice tinted with worry.

"Ghost stories." Osamu smiled and stood. "Know of any really good ones?"

Udon glanced over at Konahamaru. The dark haired boy shrugged. "Well... I hear that there was a ghost dog just out side the gate, about a mile or so, and my grandpa, he was the Third Hokage, he shows up all the time on the road out side of the village."

"Ghost dog huh?" Kouta smiled a little. "You know, we keep hearing about that dog." He reached past Udon and jiggled the door knob. "Locked." Looking down he winked. "Good think I know how to unlock it."

Konahamaru eyed the man, but said nothing as Kouta pulled tools from his pocket. "Don't get us in trouble, and we won't tattle on you kids, all right?"

"You really like ghosts, huh?" Moegi said as she stepped up to the door.

"Our containment experiments need a chakra based life form." Osamu replied, sounding very 'mater-of-fact'. "What you kids call ghosts may be apparitions of chakra left over from some one who was alive in real life."

Udon shuddered. "You mean. . . we could d-d-die but. . . not?"

Osamu pulled a note pad out of his pocket and started to thumb through it. "It would have to be under extreme circumstances, mostly during combat situations, but our research. . . "

"Hey, _Ohm_." Kouta looked up. "You are kind of freaking the kids out."

"Sorry."

The door 'popped' and opened a little. "Got it."

"Thanks mister!" Konahamaru grinned again, looking once more like Naruto. "We'll let you know if we run in to any ghosts, OK?"

Osamu smiled. "We would like that very much."

Udon forced him self to smile back as his team mates rushed past him. "Uh. . . thanks. . ." Konahamaru's hand grabbed his wrist and he was pulled in side. The door shut behind him with a near bang. He winced and sagged. Konahamaru let go and dove for the first file cabinet he could reach.

Udon watched the two students he was with dive in to their tasks with abandon. His heart was still in his throat, but now that he was in the file storage room he felt a little better. With all of the students he was fond of Iruka, and worried. The kind teacher had seamed ill, then he had just vanished. Rumors were rampant that he'd been hurt, or worse.

"Udon, look for clues!" Moegi called from one corner of the room.

Swallowing what ever fear or elation he had he stepped away from the door and in to the file room. "Right, coming."

…...

"Sensei." Naruto stepped back, and felt his throat burn. It was like when Sasuke left. There was feeling of separation, the obliteration of bonds, that hung heavy in his heart now. He had saved Sasuke, and he could save Kakashi. . . no. . .

Sai had done that. Sai had saved Sasuke.

He longed to have Sai here now. Sakara too. This was bad, bad to be here with out them. His team, his people.

His family.

_Father._ He closed his eyes for a moment and touched that one warm memory. _Iruka, I need you so badly right now. . ._

The sorrow quelled the fear and rage. "Kakashi. . . a Ninja is supposed to live an emotionally void life. That's what every one tried to teach us. But they can't take away our feelings." He looked up in to the one lone cold eye. Gesturing towards Guy, who was hanging his head and weeping openly, but silently, Naruto added, "Guy loves you, and you hurt him." He pointed back towards Jiraya. "He loves you, and spoke of you so often, while he was writing his books, thinking only of your criticism, not any one else's. . . And you are _hurting_ him."

"Kakashi is dead." The words were hollow, frozen, and hard.

"I need you." Naruto again stepped forward. He pulled a kunai of his own out and poised it over his palm. "I get it now, that you hurt because you lost some one, I get it." He thrust the blade through his hand and winced. "But you didn't loose me. Not yet."

He pulled the blade out and the whole hand became wrapped in soft red bubbles and grass like blades of warm yellow. The wound closed up smoothly, "I am not invincible, but I can't be killed like other people." He looked up in to the shocked eye. "The seal is going to fall apart. It's only held together by one strand of Chakra. The Fox works at it all the time." He flexed his healed hand. "You can help me reseal it. You are the _only one_ who can help me. The Fourth was your teacher, and now you are mine."

Kakashi glowered.

"Help me." Naruto whispered. "Or I'm going to die for good."

There was a long moment where only the breeze floated between them.

"Save your self." Kakshi whispered, and then vanished in a puff of smoke and mist.

Naruto took a quivering, half sobbed breath in, and bit his lower lip. _I will not cry now. Home. I need to go home_.

A soft hand landed on his shoulder and the touch was so comforting that he nearly lost his reserves. "Naruto?" Jiraya asked softly.

"I couldn't. . ." His throat closed and he had to tilt his head all the way back just to breath.

"It's going to take time." The sage started to rub, soft slow circles.

"I'm so tired." Naruto managed. "I just. . . I want to go home. I need to be alone for a while. I need to _go home_."

"Go." Jiraya gave him a small shove. "Sleep. You deserve that, you saved the city after all. You are a hero, you know. A hundred times over. Every life here in in debt to you."

Naruto swallowed that truth bitterly. "Good for me." He lowered his head back down and cast a side long glance at Guy. "You OK?"

Guy nodded numbly. "I have had far, far worse from him, young student. This was. . . not meant to do any thing more than distract."

Naruto looked down to the last member of the party. "Pakun."

The dog simply shook his head while he sat on his tail.

"Home." Jiraya urged gently. "I'll tend to Guy's injury, you just go get some sleep."

Naruto nodded and turned away. Numbly he crossed the grass and stepped in to the tree line. It took a moment, but he realisd soft padded feat were following him.

"I'm sorry Pakun." He turned around and watched as the dog jumped up to a thick stump. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I never should have gone so far from home." He swallowed thickly, refusing to let the tears come now. "I just. . . I wanted to save Sasuke, but I couldn't even do that." He sniffled, and felt a couple of tears slide down his cheek. "The Hokage was right. She should have chained me to a wall a long time ago." He scrubbed at the tears with the back of his hand. "Kakashi should have known better. I'm a jincuriki, I'm dangerous. . ."

"Now you listen here, Naruto." Pakun's voice was soft and small, but firm. "None of this is your fault. It's not the Hokage's fault, and none of this is Kakashi's fault." He sat down, and looked up with tender eyes. "This world is a harsh place, and not all of us are going to make it. Not all the way to the end."

"But Kakashi. . ."

"So long as you don't loose faith in him, and in your self, then I won't either." The pug offered his paw. "Shake on it, boy, shake."

Naruto wiped away another tear, and smiled sadly. He reached out and took the paw, silk soft pads and all, and shook it gently. "I promise I won't give up on him."

"And you never go back on your word."

Naruto shook his head slowly. The breeze kicked up once more, and leaves fell all around him. He let the paw go and watched them fall all around him. Summer would be over in not to long. He hatted the trees when they lost their leaves. He watched them fall for a moment, then closed his eyes.

"I try to keep my word, any way. . ."

He could hear Pakun jumping down. "The Uchiha had a belief about the leaf forest." His paws padded through the fallen foliage. "Every leaf by it's self is helpless, but if you have enough of them on one tree you can hide any one. If you have a whole forest, then you can hide a whole world."

Naruto opened his eyes. That was all true.

Pakun's steps faded, even as his voice drifted back. "But leaves are just that. Once a tree dies, it dies forever. No amount of leaves can save a forest. But a seed can."

A small green leaf drifted down and he caught it in the palm of his mended hand.

"You may not have saved Sasuke directly, but you can't say you didn't give up, or plant the seed."

Naruto smiled a bitter sweet smile.

_Sasuke_. . . His heart ached. _Kakashi_. Gently he tucked the leaf behind his ear and started towards home. _ I will save you, even if I have to tear down and replant the whole forest. _

He walked on, in to the dark protective shade of the leaves.

_Believe it_.

…...

Dust filtered the light as Udon stepped quietly through the rows and rows of tall file cabinets. They towered above him like monoliths of lives past. Some where in these ageless tomes, buried in the hundreds of thousands of sheets of paper and scrolls, were the mission reports on the bank where. . .

He pulled his glasses off and rubbed dust out of his eyes with trembling numb fingers. His nose dripped as the dust agitated his sinuses and made his throat itch.

"Find any thing guys?" Konahamaru called from some where in the distance.

"Still looking." Moegi called back.

Udon rubbed his eyes again and put his glasses back on, taking care not to jab him self in the eye. "You said that bandage guy was after sensei, right?"

Konakamaru's head popped out from a shelf. "Yeah, Danzo. Like I said, grandpa _hatted_ that guy."

"So where would he keep files?" He sniffled.

"Uh. . . I don't know, he's sneaky." Konahamaru vanished from sight again.

"If he's sneaky then he'll hide them some place very very clever." Moegi called. "Some place no one would look."

"No one would look." Udon glanced around and spotted a worn, two drawer, file cabinet stuffed away in a back room. Tentatively he inched towards it. Lifting his hand he reached out and felt traces of encryption chakra. It flowed over his fingers like the feathers of a dove,or the leaflets of bank notes. The numb started to ease from his fingers and a whisper of familiarity filtered through the soft sensation.

"Hey, Udon, don't touch that." Konahamaru called. "My grandpa said it would explode and kill us ALL if we ever touched it so much as once."

Udon licked grit from his lips and glanced back, his whole hands feeling alive once more. The feeling was like touching some one he knew, some one he had cared about. "But. . . maybe what we need is in here. . ." He looked back at the box, felt the encryptions, the numbers, and nearly smiled at the gentile warmth that flowed up his arm. "It's just like. . ."

Konahamaru snatched his hand away and yanked him back so hard he tripped and fell with a thud. His glasses fell askew and just for a moment he saw stars. The warmth vanished and his fingers started to go numb again.

"I said don't TOUCH that!" Konahamaru crossed his arms and scowled, making his whole face squish towards his nose. "You have to listen to your leader."

Udon looked down at his feet and trembled fro the shock of the impact. "But I think I can open it. It feels just like the master lock at the bank where dad used to take me. . ."

Moegi growled from behind him with frustration, once more cowing him to silence. "All you talk about is the stupid bank, Udon. You aren't a banker, OK? You are a ninja now."

He stared at his feet, at how dusty they were, and felt the drip of his nose get bigger. "Moegi. . ."

"Look, I know it's a bad memory," She said, staying back from him, and eying his nose with a frown. "but you just have to let it go."

"But. . . what if I can't?" He drew his knees together and rubbed at his fingers absently. "Besides, I think I really _can_ open that lock. It's only a bunch of numbers. They aren't even that hard. . ."

Konahamaru rolled his eyes. "You are a NINJA, not a BANKER."

"I'm a kid." He sniffled and felt a sure sinus headache coming on. "And I want to go back to class, where we should all be." Slowly he drew him self up to his feet. "We are going to be in such big trouble. I just know it."

"Maybe he's right Konahmaru." Moegi said.

Udon looked up, hopefully.

"Maybe he shouldn't be a ninja like you and me after all."

He hung his head, crushed for reasons he couldn't put in to words. "I can do it, I know I can. I CAN open that lock." He straightened his glasses, and winced at the way they pressed in to his already agitated nose.

"And what if you can't?" Konahamaru argued, his fists going to his hips. "It'll blow up and kill us."

Udon worried his lower lip. "Naruto would do it. He'd do any thing for Iruka-sensei."

Silence filled the room for a moment,and for that moment he felt a new glimmer of hope. The dusty old cabinet was the closes he'd come in so long to any thing that felt like his old life. He could take the risk of blowing it up just to try and unlock it. But only if that's all it did.

Looking up he eyed his two team mates. They were brave,a nd one day they really would be ninja. He couldn't risk them, not even to help some one who might or might not be in trouble.

Konahamaru sighed and looked like he'd be mad. "Why did you have to say Naruto would do it? Now we HAVE to try and open that thing."

Udon glanced at it and gulped. "Could it really explode?"

"Yeah, it could." Konahamaru replied.

Moegi backed away from it, eyes widening. "You know, we could just ask around on the streets if any one has seen Iruka. That would be safer than this. I mean... Ninja do get information in less sneaky ways."

Konahamaru tossed her an angry look. "You can't back out of this! Naruto wouldn't back away."

"That's because he's a dumb boy, just like YOU!" She shot back.

Udon ignored them as an argument erupted. He stepped forward again and reached out, his fingers coming almost instantly in contact with the soft and silky feel of danger and bittersweet vission of his mother and father at the bank's massive master lock. They had held his hands while they opened it. . .

A little to the left. . .

A little to the right. . .

A warning twitch of paper apeared, an explosive tag, and there were so many numbers left to move around.

He closed his eyes and took a breath in, then let it bubble out his nose slowly.

"I'm not a PERVERT!"

"WELL I"M NOT A SCARDY-CAT!"

It was like home, the dust, the paper smell, the gold rings of chakra filtering through his mind. . . He spread both hands out and let the energy slip through his fingers. Another tag appeared, then another. The voices behind him quieted, then hushed to a frightened whisper.

He traced the gold, feeling out the number of locks, three down, five to go. It wasn't _like_ the encryptions he remembered from not so long ago, it _was_ the encryptions.

The voices started up again, close, hissing whispers, fear full. He winced as he felt some one come close, entering his bubble of concentration. . .

"UDON!" Konahamaru snapped, next to his hear.

He yelped and his hand shot back. The locks reset, and the tags sank back in to wood grain and dust, becoming invisible to the eye once more.

"What! I almost had it!" He shot back, feeling his limbs stiffen as his irritation surged.

"She's coming." Moegi growled from the door.

Konahamaru Raced tot he door and peered out. "Oh man! But the ghost guys are talking to her. . ." Ha glanced back. "Look, we haven't found any thing, Udon. . ."

Udon pressed his hands hard in to the gritty wood and felt his whole body stiffen. "I. . . I can do this. . ."

…...

Shikamaru leaned close and spoke softly, darkly. "True peace can only come in death."

Choji's body shuddered. Alarms screamed and Shikamaru let go. He pulled the shadows back and watched as Choji struggled for air. The door slammed open as orderlies and medical ninja rushed in.

"What happened?" One of them demanded, eyes sharp, face stern.

"He. . ." Shikamaru looked up as he forced his face to take on a look of worry. "He was just fine and then all of a sudden. . . I. . . What did I do?"

"It's not your fault." The woman smiled softly. "We'll do what we can for him, please, wait in the hall."

Shikamaru nodded and turned to go. As he exited the room he tossed one last look back. Teeth glittered in the morning light, like fangs from a cat with a helpless mouse.

…...

Guy watched as Jiraya faded from sight, head low and shaking. After cleaning the wound the old ninja had excused him self politely, thanked Guy, and turned away.

Guy's heart hurt so badly he couldn't even cry. He stuffed his hands in to his pockets roughly and took a slow shaking breath. "Kakashi. . . Why is it always you?"

He felt some thing soft and warm brush over his toes and glanced down. Pakun was at his feet, his tail sinking low and his head dipping down. Kneeling, Guy let his fingers rest on the pug's back for a moment, before setting his whole palm down.

"It hurts. His energy is so cold it hurts to feel it." The pug sat down on his tail.

Guy closed his eyes and took another trembling breath. It DID hurt. "I thought with Naruto back. . ."

"In time, yes, I still hope Naruto can help him." Pakun sagged. "But for the moment it has only made it worse." Pakun added quietly. "Before now Kakashi just shut him self down, but now he's come to the conclusion that his life no longer holds any meaning if he can't protect them any more. He feels. . . useless. Like there's no reason for him to exist. No meaning to his life."

Guys eyes snapped open. "No meaning! Pakun... Tell me... is he..." This time tears did start to cloud his vision. "Is he. . . like his father?"

The pug shook his head slowly. "He is angry, so angry he has become unstable, but the only person he wants to hurt is him self, not others. He can only do that is he's alive." The dog looked up to the place where his master had disappeared. "He's to depressed to even commit suicide."

Guy balked at the words, yet clung to them. A cloud, large and heavy, rolled between the sun and the earth, chilling him. Horrible wafts of remorse coursed through Guy like the clouds that hug low above him.

"You hope Naruto can help him, still, right?"

"I hope, yes." Pakun licked his nose and looked up with soft sad brown eyes. "But in the end, it's got to be Kakashi who asks for his help. And to that end, I. . ." He sighed. "If Naruto can plant the seed then we'll see if it grows. We'll see."

Guy nodded, and petted the little dog. All that was left for him now was the students. The cloud passed, but the sun didn't feel nearly as warm as it had.

…...

Naruto made his way through the streets, largely ignored, because of his dull outfit. His booted feet were dragging, and his eyes met no one. It was a long walk to the street where he had grown up, past all of the mixed memories of his life. Very young children were laughing in the streets while adults chattered about market prices and gossip.

He sunk deeper in to his new vest, feeling moderately shielded by it, rather than have his presence broadcast like his old cloths would have done. For the moment he decided that wasn't so bad. He didn't want to be with any one.

No, that wasn't true. He wished Iruka was there, walking him home. He'd never liked to be alone, but right now there was no help for that. Home, BED, that's what was before him, alone or not. And right now he knew that's the best place he could be.

He came to his steps and stopped. There was shattered glass on the ground. Looking up slowly, and touching the last scrap of cloth that had been his jacket now tied to his head, he looked his walls over. Every window in the building had been shattered.

"No."

He swallowed a tight lump and took the steps two at a time. The door was open slightly, the lock busted out. Steeling him self as best he could he nudged the door open, and gasped.

Light streamed in from above, where a hole had been blasted in to the ceiling. It shown down over walls covered in anti jinchuriki graffiti, and lined with violent cracks. Furniture had been turned over or smashed. Trash littered the floor, both paper and organic.

The whole place wreaked.

"N-no." He balled his fists and grit his teeth.

Stepping angrily over a shattered lamp he gazed in to the bedroom. His bedding was every where, torn to shreds and filthy. In the center of the destruction his fern lay, torn to bits, in the middle of it's crushed pot. Shivering Naruto stepped in and scooped up the plant.

It was dead.

He couldn't even remember who had given it to him. It had been the first living thing he'd ever taken real care of. It was almost a _pet_.

He let it slide out of his fingers and fall back in to the soil that had formerly housed it. Sinking to his knees he gasped for air. The world was tilting around him, spinning. Dully he took in the one place left where he had been just him. The one place where he had always been able to shut the world out.

'The monster is dead, the people are free' was scrawled over the wall of his head rest.

Bile lifted in his throat and he stood. The spinning worsened and he had to hold on to the cracked walls to make his way back to the front door.

There was no where to go. No where safe.

He stumbled down the steps, dazed, lost, and unable to see straight. He was so numb he couldn't even feel fear or anger.

…...

Shukamaru slid in to the Nara shrine's hidden room and spread out the old Uchiha parchment. To his eyes all he could see were random lines and marks. Slowly reaching out he snuffed each lantern, than sat down with his fingers spread, and his eyes closed.

Shadows filled the blackness and scrawled over every sheet of paper.

…...

Naruto wandered aimlessly, eyes never focused on any one thing. People's eyes caught his, and turned away instantly, afraid to look and see the rejection he's seen all his life. People took measures to keep out of his path and children hid behind their mothers. Any one of them could have had a part in the destruction of his last remaining sanctuary. There was no rage left in him to aim towards them, however. There was no fear of their jeers or consternation now, only a vacant detachment for the people he'd once vowed to protect.

They hated him, they always would. He'd promised. He'd become the Hokage.

He could still feel the dirt from his fern clinging to his fingers, drying them out slowly.

He'd be the Hokage, or die trying. But he couldn't die. Not. . . not normally any way.

It was getting hot, so very hot, in all of the black. The vest wasn't helping. He wanted to go some where dark, some where alone. Some where where the light could be shut out for just a little bit.

He wanted to go home.

Tears bubbled up and he made one last grand effort to stop them. But they wouldn't go away. Not this time. He could no longer hold the fragments of his world together and with one shaking breath his reality finally shattered. Blindly he walked alone in a city full of people, trying to catch hold of the sobs threating to rip free.

"Naruto?"

He stopped walking and sniffled. Slowly, fearfully, he turned around. Standing with a sack from the raman shop hung from an arm the dark haired, scared nosed teacher of his youth, Iruka smiled down at him. "I went looking for you. I. . . I went to your apartment. . ."

"Iruka." Naruto blinked, almost disbelieving his blurry vision. Then, when the reality of one last person on by side became_ real,_ he flung him self forward. He Hit iruka had enough to send them both stumbling back, but his teacher held firm. Naruto clung, choking back his tears as hard as he could, but it was to late. "Iru. . ." His throat closed again and a sob bubbled up from the very bottom of his crushed soul. His fingers dug in to the green vest and he buried his head.

"Shh..." A soft hand ran through his hair. "It's OK."

"They hate me I'm a monster!" He looked up in to soft brown, blue rimmed eyes. "I have no where to go."

"I'm staying with Shizune for a little while, and we want you to come stay with us. You aren't alone, and you aren't homeless."

Naruto nodded in to the open vest as he cried, his world was shattered, but another world was opening up.

Father. Family. Home. The words were like light at the end of the dark tunnel he'd been crawling through since he'd seen Garra dead.

The hand continued to rub and sooth, while the sent of raman mixed with Iruka's sent and the salt of tears. Every horrible moment pored out of Naruto's soul, and his mind lost focus as every memory from the last few days came rushing to the front of his mind. His sobs gained stength from the hot anguish and the offered peace from sanctuary.

He felt Iruka pull him in to a loose hug and start to walk. "Come on, it's not far, we'll get off the street, OK?"

He nodded, though he didn't care who in the world saw him cry now. Ninja _DO_ cry. Boys cry. Men cry. He was crying. And he was crying **HARD**.

He couldn't stop and he didn't want to.

Sobs would not slow, not even as they moved thorough the crowd. Then all of a sudden they were inside a home. Alone. It was cool and dark. He was pulled in and guided to a couch.

"It's OK, you are safe now." Iruka half whispered.

Naruto sank down in to the soft cushions, totally spent, but still unable to calm him self. Iruka set the bag of food aside and sat down next to him. Arms, solid and real, wrapped around and Naruto felt Iruka's chin rest on his head.

"K-K-Kakashi hates me." He managed, and felt his stomach burn. He swallowed back more bile, but he knew he would throw up. He knew as strongly as he knew Iruka was there. He pulled out of Iruka's hug and leaned forward, clutching his stomach as it cramped up on him. He wanted to run, but then relaised he had no idea what the house lay out was. Not for any thing in the world did he want to go back out side.

"Deep breaths." Iruka pressed his head down to his knees. "Head down."

Naruto set his head between his knees and tried to calm his breathing, but he couldn't. He shifted to where he was hugging his knees rather than his stomach rocked back and forth, like a child. He hadn't cried like this since he was in the academy.

Iruka was waking away for a moment, which sent spikes of fear and helplessness to rush Naruto's mind all over again. Some where in it all the Raccoon was snarling, panicked. Iruka was back a moment latter however with a large bowl.

"Just in case." He offered, and set it before Naruto's feet.

Naruto swallowed, but his stomach refused to be quieted.

"What about Kakashi?" Iruka asked, his voice soft. Hands met shoulders again and rubbed. "He doesn't really hate you, does he?"

"He told me. . ." Naruto couldn't speak of it, not now, once more his stomach lurched and quick as battle honed reflexes could move he lunged for the bowl.

…...

Udon raced through the locks, feeling his past and his present connect under his quickly shifting fingers. Gold spread in his vision and filled the room before him. Numbers written in halos of light sprung to life and shifted as he ran calculation after calculation through the system. As each tag appeared the number combinations grew larger, and the streams of light more complex.

Twisted strands of logic flared up like enraged snakes, and slithered through the air around him.

"Udon. . ."

"Quiet." He whispered. "It was always so quiet. . ."

From the hall he could hear angry voices. The grating vibrations of the truant officer filtered throguh the air, causing the gilt strands of chakra to shudder. He grit his teeth and reached out harder to keep them from collapsing in on them selves. "I can't do this."

"Yes you can." Konahamaru called softly. "I believe in you!"

Udon's fingers started to go numb. Belief paled in comparison to the streams of digest passing before his eyes. Faith was not a calculation he could grasp.

Hope was not a countable quantity of any thing.

One golden strand fell, then another. He quickly shifted to bring them back up, or risk setting off the last two tags. "No. . . I can't DO this! It's to complicated."

"Where are the bad children?" The woman called, her voice like gravel against harp strings.

Udon pulled the last strand up and worked it as qickly as he could, but they were running out of time. Time. . . That's what he needed. _They_ had needed so much more time. The explosions. . . Any moment now the whole file cabinet would blow. . . some one had set them of deliberately just as he and his parents had walked in to the Main Lock's room. He was going to kill every one here.

His fingers nearly seized.

"I can't. . ." He pressed his palms together as flames of fantasy sprung up before him. He choked on smoke that wasn't there, and backed away. ". . . no. . ."

The truant officer slammed the file room's door open. Her fleshy hands snatched Moegi up. The young ninja to be shrieked and clawed at the woman's eyes, but was quickly tied up in steel wire.

Udon Bit his lip till it bled as the last strand gave way and the top drawer popped open. Desperately he grabbed the first file in reach and jumped away. Konahamaru was doing battle with the woman, using his scarf as both a shielded for her swift jabs and as a weapon to trip her hulling frame up.

Udon felt his knees knock as once more his body started to go limp. Her cold beedy dark eyes locked on to his and she shrieked.

"NAUGHTY CHILD!"

Konahamaru leaped up and slammed in to her. As they both went down he looked over his shoulder. "UDON _**JUMP**_!"

Udon felt his fingers connect as panic swamped him; world erupted in a dazzling shower of light.

…...

Fuka watched as Naruto crumbled before him in to a quaking mass of sobbing child, rather than strong teen ninja. Gently he reached out and set his hand on the vested back as Naruto gagged.

How long had Naruto been with out sleep? Or proper food? Missions aside, jinchuriki aside, miracle resurrection aside, Naruto was _human_. A human stretched so far past his limits he was falling apart. Fuka rubbed the back in what should have been soothing circles, but the steel of the gray vest was blocking him.

Carefully he pulled Naruto up and removed the vest. Free from his only armor Naruto curled back up, more naturally, and leaned hard in to Fuka's side, still sobbing so hard it was making him shake.

"Stomach calming down any?" He asked, now rubbing the back directly. Naruto shook his head 'no' but did try to calm the sobs down.

"Just let go of all that fear you have been holding on to. Let it all out. Cry as long as you have to." Fuka pulled down the cat suit and let his finger nails slid over the exposed skin of Naruto's back. Instantly the youth shuddered and tried to pull away.

"It's OK." Fuka held him in place tightly, genuinely surprised by the teen's startled reaction. Then again, as he thought on it, most contact Naruto had physically with others was combat or combat taring. "My dad would do this when I was up set." It was the truth. The former Umino man, tall and dark and built like an oak tree was one of the softest and most gentile people Iruka's memories contained.

Naruto's desperate sobs evened out to a hearty cry. "He hates me. Kakashi hates me. It's my fault!" He leaned in to the caresses as he spoke. "He doesn't care about me at all."

Fuka frowned dryly as he continued to skim nails over skin. "Do you honestly believe that?" There was just a little hope that Naruto would answer 'yes'.

"N-no." Naruto deflated and pulled his feet up.

Fuka's frown deepened a little, but he did not stop his fingers. "Then what?"

"I just. . . I can't do this any more, Iruka. I didn't ask for this." Naruto shuddered violently. "I have TWO tailed beasts. I. . . I think I'm loosing my mind. They keep trying to make me angry or afraid and I _AM_. I am I'm so terrified. . ." His voice faltered and he sobbed once more.

". . . Naruto. . ."

"I wish I could have just stayed dead." He moaned, heart sick, and distraught. "The tailed beasts ARE going to get out and I can't live with that!" He shook violently. "I want to just die, and take them with me."

Impulsively Fuka scooped Naruto up and held him close, a bolt of fear he wasn't entirely sure was all Iruka's shot through him. "Don't _ever_ say that, Naruto. The world needs you."

He shook his head. "No. . ."

"Yes, and if that isn't enough . . ." He looked down and smiled just a little, knowing that it didn't matter who's fear he was feeling. "_I _need you."

"You do?" It was desperation and misery wrapped up in the slimmest sliver of hope.

"I do. I. . . My life. . . you have no idea what you mean to me." He took Naruto by the shoulders and pushed him back till they could see face to face. "I wish there was an easy way to end all of this but there isn't. You have a long road ahead of you, and a lot of it will be filled with hate and anger and even death. The death of people you care about, not just people who are your enemies."

Naruto sniffled. "But it's to hard."

"For one person." Fuka nodded, frowning. "Every one needs some one. Do you remember the first time you smiled at me?" He dug deep in to Iruka's memories. "That time up on the faces of the Hokages?"

Naruto smiled a little, though he was still crying. "You were the first one to look at me like maybe I was a human."

"You _are_ human. I was there for you then, and I will here for you now, and I will _always_ be there for you in the future. Kakashi has made his mind up and given in to pain. He. . ." Fuka searched for the right words. "He stopped believing in you."

Naruto buried his face in Fuka's chest and sobbed again at that. "He was supposed to help me!" Came the muffled wail of pain.

Fuka wrapped his arms tight around the blond teen. Deep inside Iruka was taking in the whole scene. He shook him self and pulled his hair back, trying to pull him self together in every sense of the word.

_'What happened to him?' _He asked, his reflection catching in the mirror on the wall.

_'Hatake crushed his feelings._' Fuka replied coolly. '_He's joined the ANBU and then told Naruto off. You can see how well that went._'

Iruka's eyes shadowed and he struggled to stand. _'I never trusted that son of a bitch.'_

Fuka stroked Naruto's hair softly. _'Also, Naruto's apartment was trashed. Sloppy work, it would be no problem to track them down and. . .'_

Iruka's dark eyes narrowed, blue centers flashing. _'Let me out of here.'_ He straightened more hair and pressed in to the glass.

Fuka smiled a cold smile. _ 'What would you do, if I let you have him?'_

_'I want to help him! He's my son!' _He pressed hard in to the glass. '_Let me hold him!_'

Fuka looked down at the bundle of shot nerves and trembling boy in his arms. Closing his eyes he left his head fall down on to Naruto's head. The teen was not showing any signs of calming at all, but instead seemed to be growing more and more hysterical. Fuka glanced up at Iruka and sighed. There was very little he could do to help at this point. '_You only have a minute.'_

_'All I need is a minute.'_

…...

Iruka felt the quivering teen in his arms, the damp of tears soaking his shirt, and the energy void that was sucking in all light from the cheery house. It was heaven and it was hell. "Naruto."

"I need Kakashi, he's the only one who can help me bind the beasts." He sobbed, his voice cracked and rough. "I need him and he's gone."

Iruka closed his eyes and set his chin down on Naruto's head, savoring the warmth of the touch, the reality that he was alive. Iruka looked down through limp black hair in to dirty gold, clinging tight. Holding him protectively.

In the mirror he could see Fuka watching and waiting. "There are. . . other people. . ." Iruka said, reluctantly. "Others who might be able to help you seal the beast." He closed his eyes against the guilt in that statement. He was betraying the Third for even speaking the words, but Kakashi had left him no choice.

Anger burned, anger he was sure wasn't stemming from Fuka.

Naruto was right, with out the sharingan he'd loose his grip and every thing would fall apart. Anger surged all aimed at the silver haired ninja who would dare do this to his Naruto. Naruto still loved the Copy Cat however, and Iruka was all to keenly aware of what the reports said happened if some one the young teen liked was killed. There would be no help for the blond if Kakashi's life was ended, no mater how just that death would be.

'_We have to keep Kakashi alive.' _He said at length, reluctantly. The thought of watching the blood drain from the Copy Cat's dead body was a thrilling and tempting, however. Still. . .

Fuka nodded, frowning. _'At least lone enough to get that eye.'_

_'No, you don't understand._' Iruka hugged Naruto harder, feeling every bone in the smaller body under the skin. He was far to thin. '_If Kakashi dies Naruto will loose all control what so ever. We need him alive to make sure Naruto isn't pushed over the edge. But mind you. . . that is the ONLY reason not to kill him. What he's done is unforgivable!'_

Fuka mulled that over, then nodded. _'The eye though. . . You _know_ he'll use that eye on Naruto.'_

_'I'll rip it from his skull my self._' Iruka swore to it. _'We have to fix this. . . Naruto. . .'_

_'Is only safe if he's with __**us**__.'_

Iruka let out a heavy breath and slid his hands up to Naruto's cheeks. Gently he pushed Naruto back. "Listen to me."

He sniffled and focused with all of his being. "Yeah?"

"I _**love**_ you. I will _**fix**_ this."

"How?" Naruto's eyes were begging for relief from the pain.

_Looking past the grotesque internal organ he gaped at the clearing. It was carnage, plain and simple. From the tree line to the lake body parts littered the grass like confetti after a party. Hanging from the trees were black threads looking like grim bloody garland. In one tree his vest was hung neatly to dry as if he'd gone to do his washing. Still shaking he ran a hand through his hair. It was loose and slick with blood. . ._

_He'd pulled the bodies a part with his own hands. Water bent to his will, becoming blade and battle ax, carving the two immortals to ribbons. It shielded him as well. It was easy, quick work, that tore the men apart, and all around the water had shimmered in drops of three._

_'These are not all my memories.' _Iruka said, some what astonished.

Fuka smiled coolly. _'I know.'_

_. . .He stepped forward, towards the pungent chunk of intestine he'd first been acquainted with, and ran his hands through his hair again. The blood was clotting as it was drying making it stiff. He was sure it wasn't his blood. Trembling he stooped to pick up the twisted bowl and tried not to look at the sneering double looking back up at him from the tool._

_Maybe he'd snapped, maybe he was insane. At least, he realized, Naruto was safe now, sanity or no._

How indeed. Iruka smiled a sad dry smile. "By doing what any parent would, if their child was in danger. Any thing and every thing I have to, to keep you safe. Because I love you."

Naruto hugged him again, the tears finally slowing. "I love you to. . . dad."

* * *

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HI, I would like to say one thing about adding another character:

When I first started watching Naruto I hated Udon, just like I hated Sai and Karin. I saw no reason for him to exist other than to be a live body on Konahamaru's team. He didn't LOOK like a future ninja, and that nose... UGH! That drippy nose! Every thing I saw in him I hatted.

It was a hate so strong I started to think about him. WHY was his nose drippy all the time? Who would let a little think like him INTO a ninja school in the first place? Did he have ANY powers to claim? Even if it wasn't all that amazing?

SLOWLY as I entered in to about chapter ten or so of this story, his character started to whisper some answers to me. He reminded me of some one, some one I liked a lot, and so like Sai and Karin, I started to let those whispers take shape. I wanted to add him five or more chapters ago, but I knew he'd just be a distraction to the plots I was trying to weave, and I didn't have a firm grasp of WHO he was yet. Now I hope his addition isn't to abrupt. I have plans for him, like for all of the characters, and like cannon Naruto, I don't think I've stepped out of bounds of the story's spirit for adding a character in a seemingly random moment and expecting you all to just accept it. ^_^'

At least, I _hope_ I'm still in line with the spirit of Naruto's character pop-ups! Any way,I have no real preview for next time, but I will say Udon runs in to a very distraught blond teen. A teen who ISN'T Naruto!


	28. Plans

Hey all.. Yeah... still alive! My medical stuff went OK, though it turns out I AM alrgic to EVERY THING... And.. like.. an over night procedure turned in to a month of hives and pain. I was on my couch, just sort of existing, looking at my lap top... wanting to write... but not being able to...

I'm all better now.

My spelling is still a jaunty trip through hell, but I'll bet you are just glad I posted, right?

ABOUT THIS CHAPTER:

I literally hammer it to gather in one day. I had started it a number of times before the medical 'fun' I had, but hated it ALL. I rewrote it a zillion times. Like, insane. Also, I was to tired to think for more than a couple of hours at a time. (Really, the medical stuff, as 'Fun' as it was, needed to happen!)

I wrote, and cut and pasted, and forged this out of nothing. THERE ARE HORRIBLE ERRORS I HAVE YET TO SEE IN IT! And you will be so kind as to point them out to me, Yes?

I survive Hive Nam' for you, my fans. Hives. They were itchy doom.

Doom.

*_Ahem_*

If this chapter sucks, that's OK, better ones will follow. You can BELIEVE IT! *Thumbs up*

ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ITACHI CHAPTERS:

My lack of brain power produced some of the most horrible writing I've ever done, so I took it down to fix it. IT WILL RETURN! AND IT WILL NOT SUCK! And it will be fun for all. ^_^

Now, ON WITH THE SHOW!

*Flies off*

* * *

**Chapter 23**

**Plans**

* * *

_Danzo, _

_No brother would do what you are suggesting you will do. To torture a grown man willing or unwilling is an act of a general of war, to torture a mother and newborn child is the act of a monster. If you raise one hand against my family I will strike you down where you stand. You will NOT touch Naruto. He will not become subject to your twisted wishes of ultimate power._

_I should congratulate you, old _friend_, you are the first human to sever my familial bonds. I no longer have the capacity to think of you as a brother, or even as a _human being_. Such is the extent of your cold heart, and the abhorrent lack of inner fire, that I fear you are even colder than winter._

_I will be investigating every move you have made, and watch every move you will make from hence forth, to ensure that you can never harm another person in the quest for your ultimate weapon. Minato will be fully warned, and fully prepared for any interference, from a human or other wise, with the birth of his son. _

_The Third Hokage, Saratobi._

…...

White hot light exploded with a crack of thunder in the center of an empty back street. Where the light had struck Udon erupted in to existence and tumbled backwards. He slammed in to the pavement, knocking him breathless, and sending his glasses flying. As the thunder echoed off of old crumbling buildings he panted, still trembling from his multiple adrenalin surges. Spicy pain flickered through his nerves as his chakra surged and ebbed.

It took several moments before he could calm his breathing, and several more before he could gather his wits enough to move, but when he did he discovered his surroundings, while abandoned, did not offer him any comfort or aid. Crumbling around him like ancient ruins, and freshly singed in a number of places, were the remains of his clan's small plot of land with in the village.

He glanced around with fuzzy vision and lifted his hand to adjust his absent glasses. To his surprise he was still clutching the stolen files. He squinted at the letters, only to find that with out his spectacles the words were little more than grey fuzz on a white fuzz back ground. Lowering the papers again he staggered to his feet and steadied him self against a powerless street light.

There were fresh burn marks trailing up some of the buildings where the transport jitsu had reached the wood. Under these marks were some what older burns, matching the pattern.

_I've been here before_, Udon thought grimly. He gripped the lamp post tighter as his knees alternated between wobbly but firm and jelly. _The last time I jumped I jumped here._

The last time he'd come here the whole of his clan had been at the bank, all trying to save the treasures of the village from the robbers. It had been a life or death situation Udon was still trying to get his mind to wrap around after all this time. Two things he'd finally come to know. One was that what ever the robbers had wanted had been invaluable, as they had only taken a few things and not the money the bank possessed. The second thing was that the skill needed to pull it off had to mean only S-ranked Ninja could do it.

The knowledge had come slowly to him because for nearly two years after the incident he'd been too shell shocked to do any thing other than hide. The Inoichi mental experts had worked with him for six months solid just to cut the nightmares back from an every night horror show to a weekly spook-a-thon. It was during that time the Third had decided that the only way for Udon to truly recover was to be hardened up by the academy. It hadn't mattered to the old man that Udon was twenty pounds under weight and two years older than every other student, it was supposed to do him good.

The bank was supposed to be the safest, most heavily guarded, bank in all of the Fire Nation.

Lifting the papers he glanced down at them. The Hokage's file room was supposed to be the safest most well guarded file room in all of the Fire Nation as well.

Becoming a ninja was supposed to mean that his past was over and he'd go on to live a potentially short, but supposedly hearty and patriotic life, feeling fulfilled and productive.

Slumping against the powerless lamp post he closed his eyes to his surroundings. The Guards normally assigned to watch over the file room were out on a mission like every other capable adult ninja, and the less capable ones would soon be after the information he possessed.

_Information is what dad said was the most valuable thing in the world_, he mused blearily. _I'm no better than the robbers for having this_. He opened his eyes and looked down at the fuzzy lettering once more. _At least, I'm no better than a thief in the Hokage's eyes._

That brought a new wave of fear, and a new little burst of adrenalin to his system. While he was quite sure the current Hokage was not one to out and out execute a pre-gening, he knew his punishment would be costly. Mildly interesting academy history lessons aside, he'd learned from his own father that children, even those who were weak and unassuming, could be turned in to weapons by a clever enemy. The Hokage might not be inclined to believe that three students were simply looking for evidence their teacher was in danger and not on a vacation, but might assume that an enemy from some where had brainwashed them during recess.

_Well, scratch that, maybe during a mission_, Udon thought with a frown. _Any way any one looks at this situation I'm now on the Hokage's enemy list_.

Which meant that he was alone and with out his team there was little he could do. The Hokage would surely be searching for him by now, and he had no where to go and no one to turn to for help. The papers he had, that he ironically couldn't read at the moment, were as good as orders to have him taken to TnI for '_questioning'. _It was a terrifying thought.

He had to find some one to help him, and he had to do it before the Hokage got a hold of him.

Shivering from the sudden wave of new energy the fear gave him, he pushed off the lamp post and staggered forward, only to feel glass and plastic grind and crunch under his sandals. His stomach churned as his mind snapped keenly on to what might have had just happened.

Grimly he looked down and saw his spectacles under his heal. His foot had come down on the bridge between the lenses and nearly snapped the pair neatly in two. Reaching down with quickly numbing fingers he lifted them up and studied the scratches that were now embedded in the nose bridge. The glass it's self was maid to withstand most any thing a young ninja could endure, but the plastic binding the lenses was as cheap and as disposable as any civilian brand.

Udon groaned and held them up to the light. Through the blurry glass he caught a dark shape moving over the roofs. Human shapes with green vests.

His heart skipped a beat and he backed away.

"YOU! KID!"

Udon's mind fogged with fresh fear as more bleary human shapes appeared. Panicked he stuffed the papers in to his pocket and ran.

…...

"Sleeping with apples, lives, all of us. . ." He shook his head and pressed his fingers to his temples. "No. . . Bananas think, and. . ." He shook his head again.

It was aphasia, word salad, all brought on by the stress of death.

Kiba was pacing, mumbling to him self incoherently, in the cool dark shadows of the living room. His eyes were blood shot and glassy: his fingers were clenching and unclenching. Every few minutes or so he would shudder as if cold. Through out it all nearly every word he uttered was nonsense.

Ino watched him from the stair well, silently observing his steadily growing confusion. With every misplaced syllable, and every butchered word, she could hear his mental agony tumbling out. Had he been an untrained civilian this mental dissonance would have been slower to develop, maybe even preventable. A civilian would be able to cling to those around them and seek solace among family and friends. As a ninja however Kiba had no such allowances. Bonds were discouraged because if one team member fell the others, in theory, should be emotionally detached enough to not fall apart in the after math.

But that's exactly what had happened.

Now his family had rejected him, fearful that his mental unnerve would cause chaos in the pack, and his team was still missing. His life was becoming a void, and he was sinking in to it. As if to save it's self from the pain his mind was lashing out at the reality surrounding it. Desperately it was creating lies and rules and emotional barriers to try and keep it's self aloft.

He was failing. He was falling. Ino knew that if she didn't try to catch him, some how, he might sink to far to be saved. Ninja had gone insane from this. He was going insane from this. She wouldn't let him.

As a ninja he had another strike against him, his chakra. Civilian brains could proses the grief, but a ninja's brain, swamped with emotionally charged chakra, would be unable to keep it's self from falling apart.

While her father was the expert in all things ninja brain related, he wasn't here. Her skills were limited, and she had never managed to grasp some of the more complex concepts of brain chakra override, but she knew a few basics.

She stood, her own hands clenching for a moment, before approaching him quietly. "Kiba?"

He growled lowly and shoved past her. "To end the blue radish is the upside of luxury and sparking a good lizard, can only make tears fall in hindsight."

She brushed the gibberish way with the wave of her hand, knowing that some where it had made sense to him, but was all lost now. She tried again. "Sir?"

He turned to her, eyes still wildly unfocused. "Captain."

Well, at least those mental rules were still solid. She could work with that. "Sit." She motioned to a chair. "Sit."

His eyes shot about, before landing on the furniture, then flicking back up to her.

"Sit." She said again, firmly.

"OK." He sat slowly, and shook his head as if trying to clear it.

Ino stepped up to him again and took a slow breath. "I'm going to try and help you."

"Yeah?" For a moment his eyes cleared and he looked . . .

"Yeah."

. . . lost.

He turned away, and his eyebrows crumpled together. "My head hurts."

"I know." She knelt down in front of him. "In side off your head you have chakra firring off at random, emotionally triggered, moments. That's causing you the confusion and the physical pain. Now I may not be the expert my father is, but I do know a few simple harmless ways to try and slow that down. I can't take away what happened, but I can try to make it hurt less."

He looked back up at her with a deep frown.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?"

It took a long moment before he nodded and gave her a worried, pained look. "You are going to go inside of me?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes sir." She nodded. "It won't hurt, I promise. But I need your permission."

His brows knit together for a moment once more before he rubbed his palms together slowly, nervously.

"Sir?"

He glanced back up. "Just, go easy on me, OK? It's . . . my first time."

She felt her cheeks redden and she turned away. Taking a slow breath she tried not to squirm. "Right." At least he wasn't all brain dead. That was a minor encouraging sign. "OK, close your eyes and tilt your head back. Try to breath normally, and relax. If you start to feel nauseous or dizzy let me know, though I should be able to feel those vibes if they start. In fact if I feel them I might feel them before. . ."

"Inoichi."

"Yeah?"

"A little less. . ." He wiggled his fingers at her. "Chit chat. If you are going to do it, then. . . do. . ." He winced. ". . . it."

"Sorry." She took another deep breath and started to form hand signs. "Here we go."

…...

The hall was filled to capacity with angry, well armed, deadly ninja. It was very little consolation to Tsunade that these ninja were under her command. At the moment they were all looking at her as if she may be the enemy. They all seemed to have dark steely eyes. It was like peering in to a nest of starving rats. Rats that had every weapon imaginable at their disposal.

Her office was through the hall, down around the winding corner, just out of sight. Naruto's blood was still drying on her cloths. Chakra strands like the heads of snakes tracked her, and latched on to the glittering red stains.

These rats had killed many times before. Blood lust was rampant in the air.

She straightened her shoulders and strode forward. _Boldly now_. She told her self. _Never let them see your fear_.

"Tsunade-Sama, is it true the Jinchuriki is dead?"

She faltered just a little, but ignored the question. _Silently, to never let them hear the hitch in your steps._

" Hokage, what about the Akastuki mission?"

"I saw Naruto being brought in to the city? And Clones! I saw clones! Are we under attack?"

Tepid blue eyes narrowed. Her fingers twitched, still dotted with Naruto's blood. Sakura's violent removal of the infected organs had been done with such ruthless crude energy that she had torn in to Tsunade's gloved hands by accident during the gory operation.

_Coldly, to chill the flames of blood lust._

"What about the Akastuki? Are they dead or not?"

In the past the sight of even a little blood would have been overwhelming, paralyzing in fact. Now it was only one more mark against her leadership.

"Why were we called back? We never got any confirmation of mission accomplished!"

"Tsunade! Some one broke in to the file system and took things!"

Blood was no longer a problem. As she tried to move through the quickly growing mob, she felt a small urge to claw through the lesser ranked ninja before her. "Move aside!"

Only a hand full of bodies cleared the way. In the void they left more ninja came, brazen and glaring.

"Hokage, answer us! Is the nine tailed monster dead!"

"Those clones must have been an attack! We have to fight back!"

"The file system Hokage. . . What should we do?"

The blood stains would never come out.

"We have to find the Naruto impostor and kill him!"

"But who sent the impostor?"

Tsunade bit back a small sneer and shoved her hands in to her pockets to keep them out of the eyes of her own ninja. Hokage were supposed to protect. Not that she had been able to keep Team Seven safe, but she had to try.

"Hokage, just give the word and we'll hunt down this trash for you!"

"YEAH! Death to the fake Jinchuriki!"

"We really have to recover the files! They could be the down fall of our whole village!"

"Hokage SAMA!"

Her fingers skimmed a very badly crumpled sheet of paper, reminding her once more that she still hadn't written to Garra. Maybe that was for the best up to this point. With Naruto containing Garra's tailed beast, and the Akastuki still very much on the loose, and Team Seven falling apart at the seams, The Village Hidden in the Leaves was going to need some favors from the Sand Prince. Now she had leverage if they wanted to refuse.

She had to get to her office. "CLEAR THIS HALL!"

"Are the Akastuki dead or not!"

"It has to be them sending in the Naruto clones!"

"ISN'T ANY ONE CONCERNED ABOUT THE FILE SYSTEM AT ALL!"

Tsuneade pressed on, gaining a hand full of inches. She had to get to her office and sort every thing out there. If the Akatsuki found out about what Naruto had, or what he could do, then every act they had preformed against the village in the past would look like child's play next to what would come.

But were the ones who had been in the aria really dead? There had been two graves, Asuma reported that much. But Iruka could not have killed them. Her mind would not latch on to that truth at all. He'd have been killed. He was a mutt, a no-clan office worker.

There was no way. . .

"Tsunade Sama, tell us!"

She bit back a growl. She did not have the time or the energy to loose her temper here. Not all of the ninja were being so brazen, some were pressed back, trapped like her. The only way they would be free is if she freed her self. Then the mob would dissolve.

Tsunade looked down the hall and tried to plot a course through to her office. A hundred or more ninja stood, calling out, demanding her attention. There was no help for it, she would just have to shove through. There were no words that could stop her now, not one ninja that would remove her from her ultimate goal of getting to work this morning.

"YO BOOBS!"

Her steps ground to an instant halt. Glancing over her shoulder she saw Jiraya standing not to far behind her with his arms crossed, looking cross and frazzled and _big_.

Every other ninja fell silent.

She turned fully to him, knowing his personal mission had failed, by the darkness clouding his eyes. Kakashi was beyond their help. Team Seven was broken. Failure.

"Jiraya."

He glanced around the crowded hall and bristled. "EVERY ONE OUT!"

Smoke and mist and panic erupted from every point in the room as Ninja fled. Others scrambled out the windows. The hall was void of life in moments.

She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"You should exert more of your authority. You are the Hokage." His voice was rough, dry, and chilly.

She turned from him and made her way down the hall, unimpeded. "I've ripped apart the best team I had at my disposal." She fingered the crumpled paper in her pocket. "You should have been the Hokage."

His shadow loomed up behind her, like a dark cloud over the sun. "But I'm not the Hokage, am I? You are."

True, that was true. Still...

"I can't do this alone."

She felt his hand rest on her shoulder. "I'm right here behind you. Just give me the plan."

…...

'Kiba, can you hear me?'

Echoes of her own inner voice drifted through the mental scape that lay before her. Living bone encased her like a prison, and below, shuddering and swathed in electric ribbons, was Kiba's throbbing brain.

'Sir?'

A wash of sorrow swirled around her, followed by a sudden brazen wash of curiosity. She held still as Kiba prodded her, examining the way she felt while so close to his mind.

He did not fight back, but a roll of trepidation and unease followed the prodding. Fear filtered through all of it.

'Just relax.'

The flow of consciousness ebbed away from her and gave her clear way to the trembling mass of grey flesh. Slowly she flexed out and let her energy wrap it's self up in to Kiba's. It bucked wildly, mindlessly, drawn by the anger and grief. She felt it out, studied it's movements, and let it lead her to it's sources. Unsurprisingly the sources were abandonment, loneliness, and rage.

She couldn't make it go away, but she could redirect the flow. She had done so a number of times under her father's guidance on every one from the most sordid master ninja, to innocent children who had survived the most horrible of tragedies.

Secretly she had longed to preform this act on Sasuke Uchiha, but now was not the time to dwell on that. Besides, the Uchiha's eyes made them impossibly resistant to this sort of healing, if they wanted to resist at all. Kiba was before her, and while he was no innocent child, he certainly wasn't sordid either. And he wasn't an Uchiha. This would be eay.

Was Sasuke now sordid? Were his blood red eyes filled only with hate?

Her concentration slipped and an over zealous arc of energy crashed down. Kiba cried out both internally and bodily. A wash of anger slammed in to her.

'Sorry!'

Focus. She had to focus. She pulled the energy back and braided it with other arcs. It took a moment, but with a bit of effort she pulled it all under her control.

Only she wasn't quite sure what to do with it now.

Not so very long ago she had done this on some rail thin orphan who's family had been slaughtered. With a drippy nose and huge eyes behind thick glasses the child had looked for all the world like a lost puppy, and one that was going mad.

She had redirected the energy. . . but to where?

Agitation prickled around her, like quills bristling before a fight.

'One more moment, promise.'

That boy, so alone like Kiba, and so hurt, should have died. His energy was impressive for a child, and his focus astonishing. His sorrow had been even deeper than that.

Pulling the energy in her binds down she redirected it. The joint techniques Kiba had learned to do with Akamaru were useless now, and the path ways large and wide open to take in chakra that would other wise never come again. Gently she pressed the wild arcs in to those empty places, and held them till they settled.

Kiba gasped and shuddered as the energy rerouted itself and started to rupture the chakra cells that had built up. His brain calmed, and his useless connections to Akamaru died. A wave of fear washed over every thing, then silence filled the hollow mind scape.

Ino let her energy slide over his brain once more, checking it for any lingering chakra surges, but all was calm again. Carefully she backed out, keeping her energy soft and quiet.

When she opened her eyes to the world around her Keba was still before her. His head was buried deep in his hands.

"Kiba?"

"Atch." He grunted, and looked up through his fingers.

"I don't want to call you sir."

"And I don't want your dad getting the wrong idea." He growled back.

"He won't. . ."

"Shh!" He lowered his hands and winced. "Did it work?"

"You aren't speaking gibberish any more. Mostly."

He glanced down at his hands and wiggled his fingers. "I'm all tingly, and, warm."

She reached out and skimmed his temple with her finger tips. He felt warm, but not feverish. "I redirected your chakra. You may feel pins and needles for a few hours, but the only permanent damage done to you was done in the paths where you and Akamaru combined charkra techniques. I know you may not have been ready to let that part of your self go but had I not rerouted the energy to those path ways the feed back loops that were forming in your frontal lobe and broca's aria could have resulted in hemorrhaging and . . ."

"Captain." He hissed. "Now you are not making sense."

She chewed her lip for a second, forcing her self to silence. "Sorry. How do you feel?" She pressed her whole hand to his forehead.

"Sad." He sneered a little. "And now that you are done being in side of me. . ." He wiggled his fingers experimentally then looked up at her. ". . . hot and sticky."

She snatched her hand back from his head. "Hot and _Sticky_?"

"With _blood._" He ground out. "I haven't had a shower in. . .way to long."

"Oh, right." She stood straigh and stepped away, keeping her eyes locked on to her own hands. "My bedroom has it's own bathroom. You can use that one if you'd like. Dad's is off limits to visitors and your things are. . . still drying in the other bathroom. . .still bloody. . . Can't wash the stains out . . ." Now she was rambling. That wasn't good.

Was stress induced chakra born aphasia infectious? The thought was frightening.

"Captain. I'm not striping in your bed room." He settled back and stuffed his hands in to the bathrobe pockets, thumbs out. "I'll shower with my things in the other place."

"OK." She nodded, still not willing to look at him.

"You OK?"

She chuckled. She couldn't help it. From raving to lucid in a few minutes for him, and from lucid to raving for her. This was going to be a long day.

"Yes sir, just. . ." She shrugged.

"Right." He stood, made a motion like he was going to pat her on the shoulder, then aborted the move. With a small breathy huff he started down the hall.

"Um. . ." She looked up after him.

His steps faltered and he looked back. "Yeah?"

"You should avoid over heating, I don't want you to develop a fever so. . ."

"Cold shower?" He asked, brow's lifting incredulously.

Her eyes darted down to her bare feet. "Yes sir." Her last patient hadn't been this hard to deal with. Sweet innocent child with a broken heart and death swirling around him. Sweet and lost. Not at all like this.

"Gotcha'."

A long day in deed.

…...

Iruka stroked Naruto's hair back as the teen slept, curled up in his lap. The blond shuddered and whimpered at the light touch.

"He's so fragile." Iruka traced tear lined cheaks with the tips of his fingers.

"He's the most powerful ninja in the world." Fuka said flatly as he sat down in the chair near by. "Like it or not, he's the village's, no, the countries biggest weapon."

Iruka shook his head. "No, no he's not a weapon." He curled a little around his shivering charge. "He's. . ."

"Your son, yes, I know." Fuka folded his hands together. "That is all the more reason you should be willing to protect him from what's out there!"

"I am!" Iruka snapped.

Naruto whimpered and shifted. ". . . no. . ."

Iruka bit back his anger and curled around the teen. "Shhh... it's just a bad dream."

"Kakshi. . . please. . ." Tears slipped down his cheeks.

Iruka frowned. "Hatake. . . Bastard." He pinched the bridge of his scarred nose and closed his eyes. "How could he do this to Naruto?" He shook his head and pressed his lips in to a fine flat line.

Fuka smiled a little. "Are you ready to kill. . ."

Iruka's eyes snapped open with a swirl of blue. "_NO!_"

Naruto quivered and gasped.

Taking a slow breath Iruka lowered his hand and leaned forward over Naruto just a little. "As much as I hate Hatake for what he's done, and as much as I would love to see his body torn in to a thousand pieces, I don't think Naruto would take that very well. Do you?"

Fuka scowled and leaned back. "No."

"And what happens," Iruka added, "if he looses it completely? We have TWO tailed beasts in this room. In my _Lap_!"

"The hokage knows about this now, and what do you think SHE will do?" Fuka draped his fingers over his knees and smiled bitterly. "She'll order Hatake to use his powers on Naruto. They'll lock him up so tight not even you will be able to get to him. Especially not you."

Iruka looked down at the sleeping blond clinging to him and slumped back. For a long moment he sat, stroking the dirty blond hair, before sighing roughly and looking back up. "So what do we do?"

Fuka leaned forward and steepled his fingers. A small smile split his features. "We bide our time. Hatake has sealed his own fate now, Naruto will have no choice but to sever his bonds. And you'll be there to catch him when he falls."

"What about the Hokage?" Fuka all but whispered.

"Leave that to me."

…...

Neji woke up in Lee's arms.

While horror swamped him at the discovery of the impromptu snuggle he managed to keep from panicking and crying out in shock for two main reasons.

The first was that as a Hyuga dignity demanded that one use every socially graceful tactic to resolve less socially acceptable situations at all times. This situation was certainly, most definitely, not acceptable. The Hyuga frowned on relations that had even the faintest whisper of deviation from the traditional rolls, and Lee was a full on, full bodied, deviant scream. As disgusted with being literally the lower man - the lower man under LEE of all people - Neji had to at least try not to make the situation even more appalling by drawing attention to it. He refused to utter a sound, as much as he wanted to scream.

The second reason, and possibly a more _pressing_ reason, was that Lee's entire ear was was smashed neatly in to Neji's lips and nose, nearly sealing off all air flow.

That may have been a good thing, however, because they both reeked. Neither had taken a proper bath in days, and the bitter stench of fear and sickness clung to the air like morning dew to a tattered web. On top of that smell was the heavy sent of wood dust and good, old fashioned, teen-age body oder.

Torture, Neji could take torture. His own uncle had sanctioned a ransacking of his mind. Before that, when he was young, as every branch member did, he went through secret pain conditioning so that he could survive a punishment session from the head of the clan should it be delivered. It was all an agony and terror and gut churning, nauseating, lighting in your skull, sort of pain.

That he could take. Gladly, with a smile, and a song, if he'd been offered that instead.

This was simply beyond the pale.

He had to escape.

From what he could hear no one else was in the room, or if they were in the room then they too were fast asleep to make any sound. He could get out of this, possibly, if he was only quiet.

Experimentally he shifted a knee and prayed that Lee would simply stay asleep and let him escape with out any sort of reaction. But the moment he moved Lee moved too, and dragged his ear down to tuck his whole head under Neji's chin. There was a happy sort of pease sound that bubbled up from the green teen, like a kitten's soft purr.

Steady breathing was an exercise to stay calm and not panic. Guy had at least managed to teach Neji that much. He hadn't taught much else, only forged Lee in to some sort of hideous copy, and then forced them all to train till exhausted every day.

Neji thought just maybe he hated Guy.

Well, he had, until his teacher had risked it all to help him. Following that thought was the memory that Lee and Ten Ten had come too, risking their reputations as well.

His whole team had backed him when his own uncle had nearly killed him.

Under Lee he calmed. Maybe this wasn't so very terrible after all. . .

Lee shifted his hips a bit and made a soft, happy growl in his sleep, while blushing. "Ohhh Sakura chan..."

Neji stiffened full body.

Every one had limits, every one. There were no exceptions. Dignity entirely smitten, and Lee becoming ever more_ active_, Neji found him self at the limit and shoved thusly past.

"Off." His voice was horribly coarse and dry, hot from dehydration and the effects of fever. It did nothing to better the situation. "Off, Lee OFF." He rasped.

If Lee heard it did nothing to detract him from his overly pleasant dream. The green clad foul smelling teen settled again with an all to pleased sigh. Then he started to snore.

Neji was weak, he knew, his body having just gone though a sort of temperate hell. There were no longer vast energy reserves stored in his cells, nor were his muscles toned and ready. He could run, probably, but not for long. It would be weeks before he could run full speed, and a month or better before he could keep up with even Ten Ten.

But he could kick. Like a steed shoved in to a stable stall that was far to small, Neji itched to kick his way to freedom. He took a breath, and readied his muscles.

And then, abruptly, a pale expressionless face appeared over his. Dark glasses and dark hair loomed over white skin that was hidden by a wide brimmed collar. "Are you awake, Neji Hyuga? I thought I heard you speak."

"I am." He managed, pulling every lesson in manners he'd ever learned together to crush down the desperate claustrophobic berserker rage he was feeling. Still he felt like his voice had come out with all to much fire and tension. Dry too, he was horribly dry. "Where are the girls?" He managed.

Shino nodded to the opposite wall. Neji peered over Lee's head and saw Hinata and TenTen curled up in each others arms on an over stuffed recliner. TenTen's eyes were open to thin slits. A small smile was pressed over her lips.

She'd seen Lee's uninvited cuddle, and Neji knew that would come to haunt him latter on.

Shino reached out and shook Lee's shoulder vigorously. "Wake up." He shook harder. "You're presence is not wanted at this moment."

Clearly bug users had no idea of proper procedures or etiquette. Neji forced him self to not squirm.

Lee snorted and sat up straight, shifting all of his weight on to Neji's stomach, which should have hurt. He braced him self for pain, but there was nothing, not even a twinge. Opening his eyes he found that Lee was staring down at him with such radiant intensity it should most probably have burned.

"Neji!" The foul smelling green teen cried, seemingly deliriously happy.

Neji worked his jaw, keeping him self from saying the first, vehement, thought that came to mind. "Lee." He managed, but just nearly.

"Are you better now?" He asked, still sitting as if he'd placed him self at a formal dining chair. There was a fare mix of worry and pleasure in his eyes. Neji was loath to think of the hug he'd get if either emotion took strong hold.

"I'd be better if you weren't sitting on my wound." He said. There wasn't even any sarcasm there. He was now officially proud of him self.

"OH!" Lee cried as if he'd been wounded, and then threw him self off in a wild display of flailing limbs and elbows and knees. There was no grace what so ever, even after all of his ninja training. "Sorry!"

Neji sat up stiffly. "Shhh, you'll wake Hinata. . ." But the girl was sitting up as well, watching wide eyes with a cherry red blush filling each cheek. "Never mind." Was it to late, Neji wondered, to just die?

"Are you all awake?" Shino asked, looking about.

Ten Ten, eyes still amused slits, nodded a little. She looked like a cat who'd seen a wounded bird.

"Good." Shino stepped in to the center of the room, and in to command as far as Neji could see. "We need to return to the village promptly."

"Neji is still hurt." Lee protested, looking more and more like worry would win out over the joy.

"No I'm fine now!" Neji sat up straighter and shuddered as belated pain he'd expected earlier shot through him. "I can move if we have to." He didn't want to, but he'd do any thing to avoid a second round of contact with Lee.

"Why do we have to go so soon?" Ten Ten asked, practically.

Shino held out a small dead bug, as if that answered every thing.

As Neji traded questioning glanced between his two team mates Hinata climbed from her seat and peered down at the small black speck. The blush faded instantly.

"Oh. . . no. . . who's?"

Shino cupped the little bug like a dead infant. "Akamaru's."

Hinata's face drained of any perceivable color what so ever.

"What?" Lee asked, jumping up. "What's a flee got to do with Kiba's dog?"

"It is not a _flee_." Shino's voice sounded sharp, but hollow. "It is a . . ."

Hinata held her hand up, hushing her team mate. "It's Akamaru's tracking betel. The betels feed on their target's chakra, but. . ." She took a steely breath and glanced up for a moment, calming her self visibly. "But if the betel is cut off from it's chakra supply it dies."

"So." Ten Ten stood and stretched. "Did some thing happen to Akamaru?"

Shino nodded. "There is no other explanation."

Etiquette fizzled out of Neji's mind as a cold sort of worry filled the room. Standing on decidedly shaky legs, he made his way towards the bug user. "It could have just been the insect, right? You can't know for sure some thing bad happened."

"This creature was selected of the finest, most healthy, specimens I carry." Shino replied. "Kiba knows I track his dog, and he knows not to wash Akamaru with out telling me first, so that I may remove my betels. Also the fact that this individual came to me, and then died, indicates it was forced to return because it was starving. It was cut off from Akamaru's chakra suddenly."

"We have to get back." Hinata's voice was small, but icy. "If some thing's happened to poor Akamaru. . ." Her eyes misted.

Lee leaped up and tossed his arms around Hinata, turning all of that worry in to action, finally. "Think not of horrible things. What could have gone wrong in our wonderful city?"

"They went to track Akatsuki." Ten Ten replied, toneless. "With Team Asuma."

"All right, very one, we move out in ten minutes." Neji found him self saying. He glanced up at Shino, who nodded.

"If you are ready." The tallest teen said.

Neji blinked back surprise. Even though Akamaru was a dog, he was a member of Shino's team. A team member was almost like having a clan member. Shino had put his team second for Neji.

Twice now.

"I am. Lets move out." He couldn't understand it, but like Hinata's strange loyalty to Naruto, Shino was forging bonds to those out side of his own blood and brethren. Neji swore to him self that he'd do what he could for these strange bonds, even if it meant acting out side his own clan.

…...

Kiba looked at his bloodied jacket and slumped. Past the smell of harsh soap Akamaru's sent was still clinging to the fabric. The fur lining was a mess, and the metal zipper had not been carefully dried. Rust was evident bu it's gritty smell. The whole thing was a loss. It stung, but after what had happened Kiba didn't have the energy to care.

He pulled his shirt on and turned away from the ruined outer covering.

It felt good to be clean, in side as well as out, and it felt good to be able to string sentences together. Ino's help had been invaluable. He shuddered to think what would have happened had she abandoned him on the street.

He'd be a raving mess, and he knew it. He had her to thank for his sanity. He scooped up her father's bathrobe and stared at the fluffy material. He had her father in part to thank fir his insanity.

As much as he wanted to stay with the blond konochi he knew one more encounter with her father might be one to many.

He had to get out of their house.

Dropping the robe he strode towards the bathroom door, only to catch his reflection. He looked haggered, deflated, and to his horror his fangs were gone and his red cheek marking were fading. Every tie to his four legged brother was disappearing along with the cells Ino had destroyed.

Growling softly he pressed forward and out of Ino's privet bathroom. He expected the bedroom to be empty, but Ino was sitting on her bed, gazing blankly at the floor in font of her.

He rolled her name around in his mind for a moment, feeling the urge to call out to her, to thank her and to ease her worry from her eyes. He pressed the urge down tightly as her father's sent drifted up around him.

"Captain." He grunted.

She looked up slowly. "Are you hungry?"

"No." He repressed the urge to shake the watter out of his hair. "I need to leave."

She looked away. "You have no where to go. You should stay here."

"I can't."

She sat up a little straighter, and gazed straight ahead. "You know, with Naruto and Sakura gone, this whole village is going to start falling apart. We need to be strong now. You can't be strong on your own." She looked at him, her blue eyes chilled. "You are an Inuzuka, you NEED others."

That was true. He scratched at his damp hair and stepped up to her. She looked up at him, not as a warrior ninja, but as a girl who was frightened.

"Ino. . ."

She smiled a little.

"Look, I can't explain why, but I can not stay here."

The smile faded. "Why? Daddy will understand. Daddy is a good person. He's not going to jump to any sort of conclusions or. . ."

"Stop."

She fell silent.

"I'm not leaving the city. I might look for my sensei, or. . . maybe bunk with Shino, but I have to get out of here."

She nodded slowly. "OK, I understand. Can I at least walk with you till you find some one? You might need my help again."

That was true enough. "OK. But if you have to go in here," he tapped his head, "then at least lets find a privet place, not just, you know, where every one can see us."

She bit her lower lip and glanced away, blushing slightly. "OK."

…...

"What do we do?"

Tsunade looked up from the blank sheet of paper before her. The letter simply refused to take ink. Her mind was blank with swirls of yellow chakra and blood.

"First we have to confine him. We have to make sure he's some where safe." She replied softly. "Some where where he'll be well hidden from the Akatsuki."

"Confinement will torture him. Especially with Kakashi's rejection." Jiraya leaned heavily against the window seal. "Is there any other way? Maybe I can take him again."

She shook her head. "You know that would end badly." She gazed back down at the paper. "I don't want to hurt him any more than he's been hurt, Jiraya, but we can't keep him out in the open. Not now."

Jiraya sighed roughly and shoved off the window. "I understand you want to keep him safe, but so do I. If I take him I can hide him, but still give him the room to move, to train."

"Train for what?" She turned to him, eyes daring. "He's not the same. You know it and I know it. The naruto we both know is gone. That spark, that joy that made him who he was is dead. Kakashi put the last nail in that coffin, didn't he? I can see the regret on your face."

Jiraya bristled. "A set back. Kakshi will come around."

Tsunade tuned back to her sheet of blank paper. "They killed Garra, Jiraya. They will kill you, they will kill Naruto. We have to hide him. Not move him around like bate in a pond."

The Toad Sanin glowered. "But he can't just sit." He ran his hand over his head, frustrated. "What if he hid in plane sight. Disguised him self some how?"

She chewed on her tumb nail. "It won't work if they have any chakra sensors."

"No where we hide him will work if they do, he's like the sun right now. I'll be people can feel him half a world away."

She let go of her thumb and leaned her forehead on to folded hands. "True. There isn't any real place safe for him, is there?"

"The city here." Jiraya sighed, resigned. "Probably, any way. Here he has people willing to see him as a person, not as a tool. You, I, most of his classmates and teachers."

"Where is he now?" She closed her eyes.

"Probably with Umino San."

"Good. At least he has some one watching over him for the moment."

"Do you trust Iruka?" Juraya asked sullenly. "After all he's done, and been accused of?"

"If he's done any thing it's to protect Naruto." She replied. "He may be unstable, but compared to Kakashi he's a saint."

"Well, yeah but. . .

A heavy, violent knock, sounded from the door, halting the conversation.

Tsunade sat up straight. "Enter."

A thin woman opened the door, a letter clutched in her hand. "From the fire Lord, my lady. It's about the Akastuki attack and the death of the twelve Guardians. He wants a reply as soon as you are able to give it."

Tsunade grimaced and reached for the letter. "Any thing else?"

Handing the letter over the woman cleared her throat. "Yes, I'm sorry I lost my temper in the hall. But the files that have been taken. . ."

Tsunade waved her sentence off. She set the letter down unopened. "It's all right, under the circumstances I understand. Now what about the missing files?"

With a small frown the woman tucked her hair back behind her ear. "The file cabenet in the back, the one you and Umino-san wanted to enter, was opened and some files were taken. Though it's been resealed and no one can open it again."

"What?" Tsunade jumped up, slamming her chair back. "WHEN! Bu WHO?"

"A child."

"A child?"

The woman winced. "I know it sounds quite impossible. . ."

"No." Tsunade growled. "No it doesn't, just. . . improbable. Where is the child now?"

The woman squirmed. "Well, um, we have no idea. The ANBU are tracking him now."

"How could a kid have gotten out of the tower with a file?" Jiraya asked, incredulous.

Once more the woman squirmed, but did not answer.

…...

Udon tried to recall every thing Iruka-sensei had taught him about stealth and blending in. Looking like you belong to the environment was important to not getting caught. But Udon knew even acting calm and natural, like there wasn't a worry in the world, he'd still stick out.

He was supposed to be in school. Any one with eyes would see that he did not, in any way, belong to the environment.

He took mostly to the shadows, and kept his head down when ever people walked by, but now and again he had no choice but to simply run.

The ANBU were deadly killers, after all, and could look like any one.

In his haste he turned corners blindly and darted through people as a break neck speeds. With out his glasses the figures were terrifying blobs that could be hiding a deadly weapon, ready to strike him down in an instant. He rounded one more corner just as two blobs did the same and all three collided.

He cried out more in fear than pain and scrambled back, only to slam in to a wall. The blobs, less blurry now that he wasn't running, had recovered the abrupt halt easily.

_Ninja, these are ninja._ His mined reeled and he covered his face. Doom. Death. He preyed it would be instant.

"Hey, kid, are you OK?" A soft, and some what familiar voice called.

Shaking, he peered out through his fingers. "Don't kill me ANBU agents!"

Two teens blinked down at him, then at each other.

"ANBU?" Dark haired and damp, the male teen snorted in an almost dog like manner. "US?" He laughed dryly with out any humor. "Yeah I wish."

Udon cowered back. "But. . ."

The blond lowered her self down and picked up some objects. Objects he realized where the two halves of his glasses.

"I'm so sorry? Did we do this? Here, let me fix them." She pulled medical tape from a pocket and started to bind the two halves together. Once done she slid them back up his nose. "Is that OK?" She asked.

He nodded, to dizzy and afraid to do much else.

"Why aren't you in fork?" The dark haired teen asked, though he didn't look entirely interested in an answer.

"Um. . ." Udon swallowed.

"Kiba." The blond said, looking back and up at the other teen.

"ACK!" He held up a warning finger. "_Captain_."

Udon blinked at the teen before him. "You're a captain? You HAVE to be ANBU."

"I am not ANBU." Kiba grunted.

Udon and the blond teen stared up at Kiba.

"What?" He asked.

Udon blinked at the absurdity of the moment. "You just asked me why I wasn't in _fork_."

Kiba gazed down at him blankly. "Did not."

"Did too."

"Not. _Fork_, that doesn't make sense."

The blond cleared her throat, gaining attention from them both. "You look familiar, kid. What's your name?"

"Well, I. . . um. . ." Udon't brain faltered, and he drew a blank.

"Are you ANBU?" Kiba asked, leaning close and glaring just a bit.

"What?" Udon shoved back against the wall, dearly wishing he could hide with in it's cracks. "NO!"

"I think I know you." The blond smiled. "Your that bank kid my dad helped a couple of years ago, aren't you?" She leaned in close, scrutinizing him. "Glasses, snotty nose, fluffy hair. . ." She nodded, seemingly satisfied with her own discoveries. "You are from the Kyuutou clan. They were the Fire Countries most revered bankers." She smiled. "I'm Ino. You might not remember me to well."

"My real name is Kyuuten Kyuutou" He offered, his mind catching on to the past he hadn't ever wanted to revisit.

"_Sky Jumper_? That's your real name?" Keba asked as he translated the moniker. "Now that's just pancake."

Both Udon and Ino looked up at Kiba.

"WHAT?"

"You said my name is pancake."

"No I didn't!" Kiba growled and ran his hand through his hair. "Your name is. . ."

"Udon." Udon blurted, interrupting. "Every one calls em Udon, now."

"And that's better than pancake... how?" Kiba asked in a small hiss. He rubbed his temples and sighed. "OK, look, person. . . name. . . what ever, why are you running and asking about ANBU any way? It looks _suspicious_."

Udon fidgeted as he contemplated giving them the answer. Ino, he was slowly recalling, had been kind to him in the past, when every thing had been over and he'd been the only one left. A small part of him self still trusted her. He fingered the tape on his glasses.

"Nerd." Kiba growled, warningly.

"Uh. . . well. . . I stole a file. I wanted to find out about Iruka-sense, because I hear he's hurt or some thing."

Kibas eyes darkened. Udon continued any way.

Udon continued any way." That's not how it happened. . . I don't know what's on the paper, but it had the biggest lock in the world guarding it, or what I know of the world, locking it down and I had to work really hard at. . ."

Kiba snarled and stomped his foot. Udon snapped his jaw shut and cowered. Ino gazed heaven ward and took a stiff breath.

"Start over, and make sense." Kiba leaned closer. "Be sequential. What happed and in what order?"

"Well." Udon cleared his throat and resigned him self to divulging the full story. "We snuck out of school, ran from the truant officer, and then got in to the Hokage's file room." He left out, as promised, the part where they had been helped by the ghost hunting adults. "And then I found the lock that originally was used in my families bank."

"Uh, huh, then what?" Kiba leaned against the wall and folded his arms.

"I picked the lock." Udon replied with a shrug.

"The most complicated lock in the world." Kiba said with out conviction.

"Yes sir." Udon dipped his head a little. "That's why the ANBU are after me."

Kiba worked his jaw for a moment, then his brows wiggled up and he glanced down. "That sounds. . . complicated. . . What did you do, memorize the combination for a week first?"

Udon frowned. "It's not a combination." He reached up and pressed his newly fixed glasses up his nose, glad to be speaking about some thing that had to do with math,and not to do with robbing the Hokage. "It's a sires of fractillian generated numbers that calculate the code of the algorithm used to seal the lock closed. Now normally a fractal is a geometric pattern, and normally you would calculate it to represent a pattern of known self-similarity shapes, however in this instance. . ."

Keba slapped his palms to his cheeks and let them slide down, dragging his lower eyelids towards his jaw. "Nerd! I haven't had _coffee_ yet."

"S-sorry." Udon managed.

"Basically, yes, it's the world's most complicated lock, sir." Ino offered, looking just a touch amused.

"Got that, thanks." Kiba let go of his face. "So, you what?, You walked up to this lock and. . .?"

"Opened it." Udon replied honestly.

"Just like that?"

"Well, it took me about three and a half minutes."

Ino and Kiba exchanged glances. Slowly Ino turned back and tilted her head with a flat lipped frown. "Um. . . I don't mean to sound rude, but. . . I don't believe you. I know your family did make that lock but you are just a kid."

Udon sighed and reached in to his shirt. He pulled the contraband papers out and held them up for her. "Proof." His stomach churned a little. It felt like handing over his own arrest warrant.

Ino reached for it, but Kiba snatched it up first. "Let me see this. . ." His dark eyes scanned the pages quickly.

"What is it?" Ino asked. "Is it a file on Iruka?"

"Not every thing is about him." Kiba's voice held a sharp edge. "It's a list with code words next to each name. "Iruka is on it.. . . but. . ."

"But?" She asked.

He lowered the papers. "Where is the rest of your team?" His eyes narrowed. "Do they know what this is?"

Udon shook his head. "We were cornered by the truant officer. I was the only one to escape."

"How?" The question was little more than a growl.

Udon swallowed. "I jumped."

"Out the window?" Ino asked, worry filling her blue eyes. "Are you hurt?"

"No, no, I'm OK."

"Sky Jumper, Kyuuten Kyuutou." Kiba uttered the name like some sort of curse. Udon shrank back. Maybe it was a curse. He was going to be in trouble now, he'd have to leave the village. . . Panic bubbled up.

"The Hokage is going to gut me! I mean, that lock had explosive tags and every thing, I should have never. . . And I JUMPED. . ." He shuddered, feeling his guts hollow out and twist. His limbs started to go numb.

"Stop." Kiba's voice sounded out. "No one is going to hurt you. And freaking out isn't going to help."

Udon looked up, shivering. "But I'm . . . I'm in _trouble_."

"No." Kiba said firmly. "_Iruka is_ in trouble."

Udon's throat clenched. "Is he dead?"

"Not yet." Was the low growl. "But with this then maybe justice can be done."

Terror, Udon felt whole body numbing terror. He'd done the worst thing. These teens would kill poor Unimo-Sensei and he'd delivered the means. . . He felt like maybe he'd throw up.

Ino stepped between them and offered a sad smile. "Look, Udon, Iruka did some things that were. . ."

"Criminal." Kiba said darkly. Though he was directing that anger away now.

". . .symptoms of a mental illness." Ino's voice was firm and curt.

"He killed . . ." Kiba snarled, but cut him self off. He lifted the papers up like a weapon. "And this. . ." Dull fangs bit the sentence off. "We need to take this to the Hokage, right _now_." He looked down at Udon and scowled. "You are coming with us."

Udon backed away, the panic would not die down. Memories of blood and screams and terror flooded his mind. "NO, she'll have me killed!"

"She's _not_ going to kill you." Kiba sighed, agitated. "Killing you would be more trouble than it's worth. The paper work would be a nightmare and it's against regulations. Besides, you're what, eight?"

"I'm actually fourteen." Udon grimaced.

Kiba's eyes widened as Ino lowered her head. "Come again?"

"I uh. . . you see when my family. . ." Udon sucked in a shaky breath. "The clan massacre. . ."

Kiba stared at him. "Look, what ever happened, it's in the past. So what, your a late bloomer. And. . . small." Kiba shrugged. "I'm short a partner and Ino is. . ."

Both boys looked at her.

"What, I'm what?" She demanded. Eyes darting between them.

"Blond?" Kiba's ire died a little. The two stared at eachother for a long moment.

"That's not what I meant to say!" Kiba held up his hands.

Ino scowled a little and shifted her weight. "If we are going to go we had better hurry."

"Yeah, sure. . ." Kiba pushed off the wall. "Flying Pasta. . . And I'm supposed to have a problem."

Udon held him self again, and tried to ignore the way his fingers tingled with numb.

"She really won't kill you." Ino said, her voice sounding soft and kind again. Sher reached down to help him up, and he took her hand. "And Kiba. . he's had a rough couple of days. You'll like him, eventually."

Udon swallowed, unsure, but out of options. "OK." Numbly he followed the two teens, to salvation or slaughter, to the Hokage's office.

…...

The forest was dark and cool even in the hot sunlight. Guy slunk through the branches, both eager to be with his students again, and sorry for the news he had to deliver to the others.

His Team was alive, and whole, and safe.

Asuma and Kurenai however. . .

And Kakashi. . .

He leaned against a tree and fought tears. They weren't even manly tears now, just pain and aching and hope and despondency and. . .

"I'm sorry. . ."

_"Not yet you aren't" Asuma stepped back from Guy and crossed his arms over his chest. "First of all, no one wants to respect you when all you do is cry and cling and hug and. . . All of that feminine crap you tend to do so much. And second of all you can't just keep throwing your self at a problem physically. I don't care how your body works in keeping you young, but I know for a fact that none of your students posses your. . . unique qualities. . . and that your style of training is not good for them. Not got Neji, not for Ten Ten and not for. . ."_

Auma had stopped there, but he'd been right. Guy set his hand over his heart for his beloved student Lee. He still had Lee.

He still had all of his team. He'd cling to that, yes, CLING.

A flicker of movement caught his eye and he swooped down closer to the ground. Five students were picking their way slowly through the underbrush, silently. His students. Their vision filled him with renewed youthful hope and he swooped down even lower. Neji was struggling to keep up, but Ten Ten was behind him, watching his back. Lee and Shino had taken point up front. Hinata was in the center, protected, but alert. It was her eyes that loocked first with Guy's and she called them all to halt.

"Guy sensei?" She called, cautiously.

"Children?" He dropped down and was instantly rewarded with Lee's arms around his chest. "MIGHT GUY!"

Guy smiled down in to the face that matched his. "Lee." He loved him, more than life it's self. More than any other person in the world. Even more than his rival. He'd die for Lee. A thousand times over if he had to.

"Has some thing happened in the village?" Shino asked, fear in his mostly neutral voice.

Guy pulled Lee off. He loved him, loved him so much. But love alone couldn't keep them safe. There was no way to break the news gently. "Akamaru has been killed." The students gasped, Hinata began to weep quietly. "By Umino Iruka."

"What?" TenTen cried. "Iruka? OUR IRUKA?"

Guy could do nothing but nod. "Much has happened." He managed. "I'll tell you about it as we return but first. . ." He nudged Lee to the side and stepped up to Neji.

Neji looked up at him with deep milky eyes. Guy hurt for him. He wanted to pull his neglected student in to a hug, but he knew that was not how the Hyuga's lived. "Neji. . ." He started, but this was Not Lee. Never Lee.

He had no idea how to be Neji's sensei. "I'm. . . sorry."

"For what?" The teen asked. "You save my life." He looked away, the soft eyes taking in the forest around them. Distracting him self with the leaves of their home. "No one in my clan would have done that for me."

"Your uncle. . ." Guy started, but stopped. There was just so much he had to tell, and no way in which the words would come now.

"What about father?" Hinata asked, stepping up close. "Did you discover any thing?"

Guy nodded. "There's so much that's happened, so much."

"Tell us on the way." Ten Ten offered. "Come on guys. The faster we get there the sooner we can help where we can!"

"Right!" Lee pumped a fist. Guy watched as the two took off. Shino tugged on Hinata's sleeve and they too leaped forward.

"Neji. . . I was _so_ worried." All he had now, all he could manage were his feelings. That's all he'd ever really had between him and his students. All he thought he'd ever need.

Arms suddenly slid around Guy's chest. Neji rested his head under Guy's chin and shivered. "Me too."

Gently, _**calmly**_, Guy hugged him back. "I'm going to do better from now on. I'm going to listen to you, and TenTen. I just. . . Lee. . ."

"Lee needed you. And you needed him." Neji's voice was low, but accepting. What he didn't say, and what Guy knew was also the truth, was that Neji needed him now too. And more than any thing Guy realised he needed Neji. If not for a battle advantage then as an object lesson.

"I promise you I'll protect you. With my life, if I have to." He stroked the messy black hair. "I'll protect all of you." It was his word, and his honor. This was his student. He'd love Neji, Ten Ten and Lee forever, no matter how badly it hurt. He'd be Might Guy, and he'd never change. "We need to get back."

Neji let him go slowly. "Yeah, OK."

Kakashi could keep his Wolf's mask and his ANBU position and his superior rank. That meant nothing to Guy. "I mean it, I will always be there." His children were his life. "_Always_."

…...

Tsunade paced, gnawed the end of her thumb till the nail fell away, and paced some more. "This can't all be happening at once."

Jiraya, who had dropped in to her chair, looked up from the blank paper sprawled out on the desk. "When it rains. . ." He rubbed his temple.

She stopped pacing and stood against the desk, looking down at him. "The ANBU can't find one child."

"Can't, or won't?" he asked.

It was a troubling question. Before she could properly formulate a reply there was a knock on the door.

Tsunade shooed Jeraya out of her seat, than sat down and straightened her cloths and hair. "Enter."

The woman from before opened the door. "Lady Hokage."

"Yes?"

"The file thief has returned with Kiba Inuzuka and Ino Inoichi."

Tsunade cast a supprised glance up at Jeraya, who shrugged. "Good fortune at last?" He asked.

She didn't dare hope. "Send them in."

"Right away." The woman hurried out.

"I hope they aren't some sort of brain washed spies." Jiraya stepped back in to the corner of the room, a shadow and a presence all at once. Tsunade smiled at his silent steady support.

"You never know." She rested her chin over neatly folded fingers.

The door opened again and a bedraggled looking trio entered the room. Tsunade took quick check of Kiba first. The teen's eyes were set in deep dark hollows, and his skin had lost it's healthy pallor. Aside from that his fangs and clan marking were all but gone.

Ino looked a little better, but still had a worn out exhausted look to her.

It took her a moment to recognize the third person as it had been a while since she had seen him, but after a moment she smiled down at Konahamaru's team mate. He looked like he'd pass out at any second from sheer terror.

"Udon, correct?" She asked gently.

He nodded and gulped. "Yes ma'am."

"You know what you did was wrong." She spoke in soft words.

He nodded again.

"Why did you do it?"

The student quivered and swallowed and started to sweat. Kiba nudged him forward.

"Go on, tell her the story."

Udon swallowed once more. "Konahamaru wanted to find out what happened to Iruka. We escaped school and went looking."

Tsunade glanced up at the older teens behind him. Kiba was scowling while Ino was studying her toes with a fervent interest. What Iruka had done was still unforgivable to them.

"So you broke in to the file room and picked the lock on one of the file cabinets?" True curiosity tugged at the back of Tsunade's mind while a sort of hollow dread turned in her stomach.

"It wasn't easy." The youngest admitted. "See my family's lock is a sires of fractillian generated numbers that calculate the code of the algorithm used to . . ."

"_Tasty_." Kiba growled. "We've been over this."

Udon bit his lower lip while Ino gave her fellow teen a side ways glance.

"So you unlocked the file cabinet, got it." Tsunade said, bring all's attention back to her. "Did you get any thing out of it?"

Kiba stepped forward this time and handed her a crumpled looking paper. "Names and numbers."

Tsunade snatched the page up, tossing out her reserve, and gazed at it with a touch of awe. "Jiraya." She stood. "This is a members list."

The names she needed were there, along with cryptic symbols and seemingly random numbers. It had been coded against discovery and a light trace of chakra was over every inch of it's surface. Even with the paper in her hand, she had no idea what any of it meant, other than the names, and had no way of decoding it, with out careful means, lest it self destruct.

It could list all of the active members of ROOT. It could have also been a hit list. She had to take her time with it, carefully.

Jiraya stepped forward and read over her shoulder. "Iruka's on it."

"Yeah." Kiba huffed. "And other names. . ."

Tsunade spotted Inoichi's name and frowned. Looking up she caught Kiba's dark eyes. He glanced at Ino, then back at her, and glared. The blond next to him was oblivious. In more ways than one.

Tsunade folded the paper up and tucked it in to her shirt. "This will need some study." She managed, stunned. "In the mean time you could be in danger, Udon." She turned to the youth who was shaking before her desk.

"Are you going to put me in prison?" The youth asked.

Tsunade smiled sadly. "No, no, this has turned out to be a good thing for me. Your intentions were noble." She sat back down. "But there are people in this city who may now target you." She went to bite her nail, but it was already gone. "How did you escape the ANBU any way?"

"He jumped." Kiba answered for him. "Like, poof."

"A transportation justu?" Tsunade asked. "I do recall your clan had that power yes."

"I didn't mean to!" Udon hugged him self and rocked a little. "I just did it in panic."

"It's OK." Ino set a calming hand on his shoulder. "Your not in trouble here."

"Can you do it again?" Tsunade asked, ignoring Udon's fear.

"No!" He cried.

"Yes." Kiba argued. "You've done it once, you can do it again."

"I can't, I can't do it! I'm not strong enough." Udon protested.

Tsunade leaned back and set her palms down on the desk. The still blank paper was soft under her skin.

"But it takes to much out of me!" Udon hugged him self tghter. "It's like getting hit with lighting."

"Every thing is hard at first." Ino smiled. "You have to practice."

Tsunade fingered the edge of the paper. The Kyuutou youth would be killed here, one way or another. She had to hide him now too.

"I don't want to." Udon shrank. "I always go back to _there_."

"There?" Kiba asked.

"To my clan's houses." It was a cold whisper, all anguish and fear.

Tsunade smiled and picked up her pen. Jiraya hovered over her shoulder silently, reading as she wrote.

"You can't live in the past." Kiba scratched at his damp hair. "You'll go nuts."

The letter seemed to poor from the quill, like it had been there and the ink only needed to touch the paper. "Children." Tsunade looked up, her smile deepening.

Ino and Kiba turned giving her full attention. Udon took a second to untangle his attention from the conversation they had been having, but he too turned to her.

She rolled the letter up and pulled out a seal. She looked in to Udon't fear filled eyes. "Your life is in danger here." The seal took to the paper, and bound solid. "It would be best if you left the city."

"You can't just send him away like that!" Kiba snapped.

From behind her Jiraya bristled. "Hear her out and give her respect."

Kiba bristled as well, but backed down. "Yes sir."

Tsunade sat back and toyed with the edge of the paper. "Have you hear what has happened to Naruto?"

The three young aspiring ninja sank.

"Yes." Ino sniffled. "And Sakura."

"What you heard, is only half of the story."

All three looked up at her, attention full.

A flutter of pride came to life in her heart as she spoke the next words. "He's alive, and he fought and killed the traitor, Orohimaru."

"WHAT?" Kiba gaped.

"What about Sakura?" Ino gasped.

"She's alive too." Tsunade held up the fresh letter. "But for now it would be best if every one pretended they were dead."

"Why?" Udon asked, wide eyed.

"Because now every enemy we have ever had will be after Naruto." Tsunade twisted the paper in the air. "We can't fight them all off alone."

"Forgive me for being bold. . ." Kiba said while glancing up at Jiraya, "But why are you telling US this?"

Tsunade sat up straight. "Because I trust the three of you, more than I trust the ANBU."

The three gaped and glanced at each other, shocked.

"Us?" Kiba's brows lifted.

Tsunade stood and stepped around her desk. "Yes. Some of our ANBU may have been compromised. I could not get in to that file cabinet, not to save my own life, and it has some thing to do with that compromise. You three,however, knowing where this was from, brought it straight to me."

Kiba's expression darkened. "And?"

"And I have a mission for you." She held out the letter. "I need you to take this to Sauna, secretly, with out getting caught or even seen by any one. Deliver this straight to the Kazakage Garra, and then report back to me at once."

Kiba took the offered paper. "What rank?"

"A."

The three teens gazed at the letter numbly.

"No." Kiba shoved it back. "No way in hell am I taking a PRE CHUNIN out on an A ranked mission!"

"I have to agree with him on this one, Tsunade." Jiraya rumbled from behind the desk. "Have you lost your mind?"

"The Kyuutou boy will be killed here, Jiraya." She replied, glancing over at the other Sanin. "If they make it to Sand with this letter they'll all be safe, we'll get reinforcements, and Garra will know."

"Garra will know what?" Ino asked.

"That's classified." Tsunade replied coolly.

Kiba shook his head and backed away. "No. I'm not taking him. . ."

"Udon." Tsunade asked, ignoring the protest. "If some thing happens and you are in danger, do you think you could jump home?" She could justify this child's discomfort for the sake of the village, and Naruto, but his death? She waited anxiously for his answer.

The youngest teen, still hugging him self, glanced down at the floor. "Maybe." He shifted, still some what afraid. "Maybe if I was far away I'd jump closer to home, but not all the way."

"But over all you know you could escape?" She asked, testing him, hoping.

Udon looked up slowly, his features hardening. "This letter is that important, isn't it?"

"Yes." It was every thing she had at the moment, side from what they had brought. Garra had to know. They had to get the Kazakage on their side. Sand _Owed_ them.

Udon sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. "You know, after that attack, I never wanted to be a ninja. Let alone see one again." He let the breath out and opened his eyes back up. "But I can't follow in father's foot steps can I?"

"You already did." Tsunade held out the coil of paper. "He'd be very proud of you." It was the truth.

"No." Kiba growled. "Don't throw your life away!"

"I can't keep running." Udon took the letter and slowly tucked it in to his shirt. "I'll do my best, lady Hokage." He gave her a stiff bow.

Kiba tossed his arms up. "This is insane."

"Insane." Udon turned to him. "Yes it is. But we have to do some thing. We can't just wait to be slaughtered." He looked down and shook his head. "Kiba san. . . don't you want to live? I opened my father's most complicated lock. . . I. . ." He looked back up with fingers spread and a look of awe over his face. "I did it."

"I want to protect my family, my father." Ino stepped forward and stood beside him. "I'll go too, Lady Hokage, you don't have to make it an order for me."

"Good." Tsunade looked at Kiba, who scowled back. Rebellion flashed in his cold tortured eyes. It was to much for her to ask this of him. Not after the sacrifice he'd already made. "Ino, you take charge of this mission. You'll be the mission Captain."

"Captain?" Ino gapped, disbelieving. She looked slowly over at Kiba. Kiba was stunned to gaping.

"Is there some thing wrong with that?" Tsunade asked. It was logical, after all, Ino was the most competent of the three at the moment. Or so she hopped.

"It's fine." Ino mumbled, still not quite looking like she could take the tital.

"OK, now I know I'm hallucinating, right?" Kiba let his arms drop limp to his sides. "You just made her a _captain_?"

"She did." Jiraya said with a touch of his own disbelief. "They are to young for this."

Tsunade turned to him, neding his support, but knowing the truth in his words. She would not be torn. He mind was made up. "They are the only ones who can take this mission on, Jiraya. We can't _trust_ any one else. And they have gone on A ranked missions before."

"Not the little one." Jiraya protested. "This is stupid. And desperate."

"It IS desperate." Tsunade shot back. "And it may be out only shot at getting a message to sand with out any one knowing. Think, how many of our enemy will take notice of these three? Not many."

Ino paled a little at that. "Akastuki." She frowned.

"Why?" Kiba asked. "Why, WHY? Why captain?"

Tsunade looked down at the frazzled dark haired teen and sighed. "You would have been in charge but. . ." She let the sentence hang.

Kiba's voice flattened out and he scowled. "I'm crazy, I get it, disturbed, mentally unhinged. Right-o-roo. Yes. And I can't believe I'm going to do this."

"Kiba?" Ino gave him a worried look.

"I've lost all of my marbles." He stepped up to the other two teens then, and forced a grin. "Captain." He nodded to Ino. "Snacks." He nodded to Udon. "I'm in, but don't think, for one moment, that I'm going to LIKE this!"

Tsunade stepped away, and opened a closet door, unsure if she ought to be pleased about his joining the team or not. Trepidation was swirling with in her, even as she rolled the facts over in her mind once more. She could dtust them. That was more than she could say for every one who wasn't in side the room with her. She pulled out three old vests and some other aged gear. "This is old equipment. It's outdated, but it will act as your new uniform and field set."

The new team gave the gear dubious looks. Kiba took one vest and tugged it on. Ino and Udon followed suit.

"I still think this is a bad idea." Jiraya's voice rolled through the rustle of fabric.

"I agree." Kiba looked up at the Toad Sage and stuffed a Kunai in to it's holster. "But Really, I haven't any thing better to do with my time at the moment and hell, we only live once, right?"

"What about our other teams?" Ino asked.

"Officially Kiba you'll be in our sister city, looking at dogs."

He paled, but nodded.

"Ino, you'll be in another city learning some new medical techniques."

"All right." She tightened a strap around some medical scrolls.

"And Udon, you'll be in my personal detention."

"Konahamaru is going to freak out." The youngest bemoaned.

"Does this team have a name?" Kiba asked as she rummaged through the pockets. He pulled out a petrified ration bar and gave it a sniff.

Tsunade thought for a long moment. "If you make it back mission complete, I'll let you name it."

"Fair enough." He tossed the bar in to the trash can and turned to Ino. "Ready when you are."

Ino looked up at Tsunade with worry in her eyes.

"You'll do fine." Tsunade smiled once more, trying to reassure the younger ninja.

"Yeah, I'll be super, right-o-roo." Ino mumbled.

"Dismised."

The three turned and shuffled out of the door, looking just a little dazed.

"We'll be back." Kiba called. Then they were gone.

Tsunade stood, looking at the door, and borught her gnarled thumb nail to her teeth. Jiraya set his hands n her shoulders.

"You may have just sent those kids to their death."

"Then why didn't you stop me?" She asked.

Silence floated up between them for a long time before he replied. "If I didn't think I was needed here I would have taken that letter my self. I couldn't think of any other options." He let her go and backed away.

She took a breath and settled in to her decision. "They aren't any safer here, not with the One Tail unbound in Naruto. We have to consider the fact that I may have just saved their lives by sending them away."

"But did we save Naruto?" He asked.

She chewed her other thumb, unable to answer.

…...

Hinata clutched at her heart as Guy recounted all of Naruto's unfortunate mission, and the killing of Orochimaru. She swore with the others not to say a word until official order were given on the matter, but could not bring her self to promise not to try and see him.

Her whole heart ached for him.

"Hinata?" Neji asked as they neared the gate.

She looked up in to his tierd eyes. She'd nearly killed for Naruto, nearly killed her on clan member. She ddn't deserve to be in charge of the Hyuga, and she was glad now that her sister would rule.

"I'm worried for him, Neji."She whispered. "If what you say is true then how much more can he stand?"

"I don't know, but I'll stand with him." He replied. "Just remember, what ever is inside of him may be more than any one can take on. It could kill you."

She turned her face towards the village. "Naruto would never let that happen. I believe in him."

She took a steely breath as her resolve grew. After what had happened between her and Neji she knew nothing any one in her clan said or did, not even her father or sister, could shake her loyalty to Naruto.

She let go of her chest and tilted her chin up. If he started to fall, or was in danger, she swore to be there for him.

"Believe in him, fine, just know that the clan. . ."

"It doesn't matter, Neji, you may not believe in fate, but I do. I believe that one day I'll take my stand next to him. Even if it's only for a moment. He'll see me, and I'll be able to let him know how I really feel!"

Jinchuriki or not, he was Naruto, and she loved him.

…...

Deep with in the Nara Shrine, shrouded in the pitch black, Shikamaru shuddered and fought for air. His shadows had bloated in the freedom of the darkness, and rolled heavily over the horrible truth that lay before him, spread out in dark ink over the Uchiha Scrolls.

Hatred. Power. Vengeance. It was all there, as clear as day.

He licked dry lips and stood, trembling. Hatred. He had that. Iruka had nearly killed Choji. He hated the teacher. Vengeance was in his heart. He had vowed vengeance for Choji, and the mongrel dog, Akamaru.

The truth of the darkness was far more powerful than he could have imagined. And cold, the truth of the true Uchiha power was deadly cold.

He would see to it that Iruka's blood was on his hands.

He groped in the dark and gathered the scrolls. If knowledge was power, then he really could become all powerful.

Or even better, he'd let the teacher live, while he tor apart some one the teacher loved.

Hate would be his path to the ultimate form. He was weak, but with cunning he could pull down even the strongest ninja.

Even the jinchuriki.

"How bothersome." He rasped.

Then grinned.

…...

_To the Third Hokage,_

_While I understand the nature of the threat, and your position on wishing to prevent any undue harm to the child, I am unable to accept your offer of aid. _

_To accept the offer would be in direct contrast to the plans I have already laid out regarding the birth. I am well aware that Naruto will become the container for not one, but all of the tailed beasts. There for, if I am able to, I will not only seek out, but ensure he is in contact with that power as early as possible. He can not be coddled from the horrors that await him, nor can we afford to ignore any opportunity that will present it's self to our advantage. _

_I thank you for the warning, but as your Hokage I must insist that you do not interfere with the plans that have been laid out for the child known as The One. He must accept his fate and life of pain, or our lives will have no meaning._

_The Fourth Hokage, Minato._

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I can't tell you when the next chapter will be out, But I can tell you this... another Interview Special is on the way, so let me know who you'd like to see there! :D_  
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	29. Unto Uchiha Part one

UPDATE: Nov-13-11 Well, it's back, and FIXED! I know It's been a long time, and I know ya'll probably hate me now for making you wait, and I KNOW ya'll hate me for reposting a chapter many of ya have already read. . . but I really was so bad that Even I couldn't stand it.

Well, It's fixed, more or less, and readable now. Plus I've been working on other things, so I haven't had time to write new content, as much as I want to. This year I'm working on the NaNoWriMo, and unlike last year, _I know what I'm doing_.

I'm over half way done! XD

But on with the show! NEW content should be up near the first of the year, till then, please forgive me. I am the pus from the wart on the butt of the earth for making you wait! But that WILL change! *Strikes a pose of youthful manliness, despite bing a girl*

Please enjoy! T_T

* * *

ORIGINAL MESsAGE: I've been having MASSIVE writer's block as of late, and have attacked the supposed next chapter over and over and over. I've had to make a tactical retreat from the main plot for now because it's just not coming together. I will again advance towards it at a latter date, but at present my abilities have been called to a different front.

I was going add the following character to the story latter on, but there's no way to avoid it now. With this chapter I'm going to accomplish two things in one... First off I'll reestablish my self in the time line of Cannon Naruto, then I'm going to show a glimpse of how far we will diverge from it down the road.

With my writer's block being so impressively impassive, and my unholy distaste for every thing Naruto has recently become, has driven me to this point. You can thank Kishi him self, if you would like. Or yell at my half dead muse. But It won't change the fact that I've got nothing better than this to give you at the moment.

I'm sorry.

So, with out further a due, I bring you the next, very VERY short, chapter: Unto Uchiha

Side Note: I'm keeping the words censored so that I don't have to slap a mature ratting on this puppy. If you don't like that... to ******* bad, ass hole.

Kiss kiss. ^_~

…...

Unto Uchiha: Part one

The wind blew harsh over sun baked rocks for miles upon miles. Searing heat lapped up what little life giving water there was, and robbed the land of hope. Bones, massive in size and bleached white by the scouring rays, stood like a warning. Below them, tucked under the chalky ridge of spine, was a door.

Past the door, descending deep in to cold dry darkness, lay black walls and floors, decorated with flame red clouds.

"Oh you have got to be ******* kidding me. You lost them BOTH!"

A light shown at the edge of the hall, dim at first, but brighter as one would draw near.

"I'd like to see you do better."

The hall opened to a sparse, yet well lit living aria. Standing around a battered kitchen table three men glared down at a gray haired head, stitched back together roughly, laying in the center of the lifted wooden surface.

"Better?" Long blond hair vibrated. Diedra glared down, lips pulled back in a snarl. "In case you haven't noticed I had my arms severed and my partner was _killed_."

Hidan glowered up from the table. "Oh, _poor __you._ You lost ARMS. Hello, jack ass, I lost my whole body! And my partner too!"

"You also lost two jincuriki!" Diedra snapped. "You HAD the two tailed cat." He slammed his palms down on the wood, winced as the shock of the move reverberated up his still mending arms, and leaned even closer to the dismembered head. "What in the hell happened out there?"

Hidan sneered and tried to look away, but the lack of a neck kept his head stuck facing the seething bomb expert. "Kazuko wanted to go off and collect some more ******* money. There was a reward out to catch the son of the Hokage or some thing."

"So." Itachi's voice rolled between the two, dry sounding, bordering disintrest. "You fought with the man, Who's name is Asuma, correct?"

"No, yes." Hidan sighed, frustrated. "We went to _find_ Asuma, but we were intercepted by some sort of super powerful FREAK of nature. Ugly little thing, had a scar on his nose. Looked like a damned kid to me."

"You both were taken out by one kid?" Diedra snorted. "Dumb ass."

"OH SHUT THE HELL UP!" Hidan glared viciously up at his decidedly taller co-villein. "You got taken out by a couple of ********* kids your self. Sasori was killed by a girl. A pink haired _girl_ and an old woman! AND YOU LOST THE ONE TAIL!"

Diedra nearly shook with self righteous anger. "I fought the nine tailed Fox's Jincuriki, bastard. And the Sharingan Kakashi! Sasori was up against his own grandmother! She was both a poison expert AND a puppet master! How in the Hell were we supposed to fight back, huh? We'd already done battle with the one tail. We were at our limit!"

Hidan curled his lips cruelly. "You could have called for back up. I would have been right there to watch them hand your ass to you. Then Kazuko and I would have picked up your bits, killed the brats troubling you, and then been the most awesome ninjas of all freaking time! Your eyes would have beheld my awesome greatness!."

"News flash, you hat warmer, we picked up _you_r bits and brought _YOU_ back home. Who's the ********* awesome ninja now? Who's the ninja who fought and KILLED a jinchuriki, and then fought and SURVIVED a second Jinchuriki, AND the Copy Cat Ninja all in one week?" Diedra tossed his hair with a snort. "I'm far more ninja then you will EVER be."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" Hidan blinked up with big, round eyes. "I forgot I have to be kind to you because deep down your just one big chick with a dick. And we all have to be nice to girls."

Diedra lunged for Hidan's head but Itachi grabbed his still injured arm and twisted. As the bone made a horrible crackling sound, Diedra let out a howl and dropped to his knees. Hidan cackled. "Serves you right, jack ass."

Kisame, who was picking his teeth with the nail of his little finger, till now content to silently watch the shouting match, grinned. "All these losses from Konoha. Itachi, your old village is trouble."

"Yeah really, Itachi, what the _hell_man?" Hidan asked, straining to look up at him from the corner of his eyes. "Your village did this. I call for revenge on your sucky village."

"It's not my village." He replied dryly while still holding Diedra, who was snarling and glaring and _not_ moving. "I have _no__wish_ to be associated with them." He added darkly. Then, to Diedra, "Oh quit giving me that look, you know we aren't allowed to team kill."

"But it's HIDAN!" He growled. "He's already DEAD!"

"Huh, good point. Go for it." He let Diedra go with a small shove. "Just don't get his brains all over the couch again, that's hard as hell to clean up."

"You son of a bitch!" Hidan snarled as Dirdra reached for him.

Just before hands could grab skin and skull a puff of mist erupted on the far side of the table. Zetsu, or rather a clone of Zetsu, stood peering at them, only half visible. Light dimmed, but still managed to pass through him. The white half grinned.

"Am I interrupting some thing?"

Itachi pulled Diedra back, some what more carefully this time. "We were discussing our tactical short comings and losses."

Kisame coughed to hide a laugh.

"I see." The black half gazed at them impassively. "Well, if you are worried about your losses then I have good news. In about an hour I will return with three new members to bolster out numbers, hand picked by HQ members."

"Crap." Kisame grimaced. "We're getting rookies, aren't we?"

"Yes and No." The white half beamed. "I'll be brining a new team, and a partner for Diedra."

"What abut me?" Hidan asked, trying to look behind him self. "Don't I get a new partner?"

Zetsu looked down at him. Both halves blinked. "No." The dark half replied. The white half frowned. "There's nothing you can do, right now."

"Door stop." Diedra offered.

"HQ is working on securing you a new body." White Zetsu went on. "Until then. . ."

"Vollyball." Diedra smirked. "Personal ass warmer."

"Stop." Itachi chided. "Who are the new guys and what can they do?"

Black Zetsu answered. "There is Konan the Paper folder. She. . ."

"A girl?" Kisame blurted. "We're getting a girl? Dibs."

"We have a girl." Hidan argued, and looked up at Diedra.

Diedra lunged again but Itachi caught him.

Kisame shrugged. "Not in to chicks with dicks, man."

Hidan, deprived of shoulders to shrug with, settled for shrugging his eyebrows instead.

"I hate all of you!" Diedra howled.

"My I continue?" Black Zetsu asked, unamused.

"Please." Itachi Twisted Diedra's arm till the bomb expert dropped again to his knees, cursing and snarling.

"Thank you. Next is Yahiko, a master at much, an expert in little, but he can create an amazing array of shields and barriers for both protection and trapping."

"Cannon fodder." Hidan said. "Meat shield."

"Mostly." The white half agreed. "However Konan and Yahiko work together, they insist that they do, and combined they are an incredible force."

The black half added, "A force that will be used primarily to correct the mistakes you have made."

Diedra started to protest, but Itachi twisted his arm again.

"And for his partner?" Kisame asked, pointing down at the subdued bomb user.

Both Zetsu halves were silent for a moment. Then, voices together, hushed, they replied "Tobi."

Diedra looked up, tears threatening to spill from the pain. Breathlessly he asked, "What's a Tobi?"

Nether half replied.

Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"Well, what in the hell's going to happen to me?" Hidan blurted, indignantly ripping the silence apart.

"Oh, well, we DO have special orders for you." White Zetsu beamed once more.

"And?" Hidan asked.

"Because your head will rot away leaving only your skull, unless we do some thing to help preserve you, we have orders to keep you in the refrigerator!"

Hidan's jaws dropped as much as it could while set on the table. "_What_?"

Kisame gaped. "No way, no way in hell! He'll gnaw on the food!"

"We could put him in Tupperware." Itachi offered after a moment of thought. He spotted Diedra ginning and let him go.

The bomb expert stood, beaming with pleasure, having forgotten all about the prospect of a new partner, and picked Hidan up by the hair. "I'm putting you next to the pickled shark!"

"THE **** YOU ARE!" Hidan snarled. "ITACHI! KISAME! DO SOME THING!"

"Orders are orders." Kisame replied, wincing.

Diedra vanished in to the kitchen, humming merrily to him self.

Kisame sighed, looking a bit crest fallen. "I just know he's going to try to eat my pie. Bastard. I'd better go put it in some thing he can't chew through." With heavy steps he followed Diedra.

Itachi turned to Zetsu and scowled. "Tobi? So that's the name he came up with?"

Zetsu started to fade out. "I did ask you if you had one better. Do you?"

Itachi glared. "No."

"Well then, you had better get used to it." His voice was thin, fading like his presence.

Itachi turned full body towards the half plant and stared. "Just tell me one thing."

"What's that?"

"What IS he man? I heard a rumor this guy was an Uchiha."

As the last of Zetsu faded from view the dark half's voice floated out. "You know your orders regarding him. Follow them. Don't ask. . ."

"Yeah yeah yeah." Itachi sighed. Zetsu was gone and there were sounds of impending violence coming from the other room. Diedra cried out in pain, Hidan laughed hysterically, and Kisame cursed declared vengeance for all things banana cream.

"****, why me?" Setting his shoulders Itachi braced him self. "IF EITHER OF YOU JACK ASSES BRAKE SOME THING, THEN I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU YOUR OWN PERSONAL VERSIONS OF HELL!"


	30. Unto Uchiha Part two

Edited this chapter as well, and I hope it flows a lot better. This will be it for a little while as I scramble to finish NaNoWriMo, and then trash and rewrite my 50K story. I'll let you know when that is done and posted online.

I may or may not work on this story during that time. I probably will, as I'll need a rest, but I don't know when that'll be.

Any way, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

**Unto Uchiha pt2**

"Every thing down here is black, gray, or so white it hurts. You'll find your self squinting a lot."

Itachi glanced up through his Raven mask as he walked. "At least it's clean here. Back in the regular ANBU halls there's still blood in the corners from when you were there."

The taller, older agent in black and gold armor gazed down at him through his own mask. "I haven't been gone that long, so that's not all that surprising."

"You'd think in six months they would at least have the decency to mop just once." Itachi replied. "Besides, Wasp, most of it was _your_ blood. Doesn't that bother you?"

They came along side a large window that over looked an arena. Two people, a man and a woman, were standing in the fighters ring, feet planted, hands raised. The man, in all black, took a small step closer to his opponent.

The woman, dressed in white and sporting a Fox mask, took a larger more aggressive step forward.

"You learn to appreciate that no matter how much blood gets splattered on the landscape around you, if there's still enough on the inside to keep you alive, it really doesn't matter."

Itachi frowned at that. "It seems disrespectful, if you ask me."

Wasp shrugged with one shoulder. "Look, kid, just because most of that blood is mine, doesn't mean a thing. You know my blood limit, well, isn't limited. It's not limited in any way, in fact. I can bleed for ever, or, nearly."

Itachi nodded. "Yeah. Still..."

The Fox masked woman leaped with a scream and slammed her foot in to the man's hip.

He took the hit and rolled with it, transferring it's energy in to a roll and kick of his own.

"Realistically, you know, if it had been any one else in that fight than me most of that blood would have been _yours_."

Itachi nodded again grimly. "I was terrified you were going to bleed to death in front of me."

"Well, now you know better. Nothing short of chopping my head off is going to stop me. I'm invincible!" Wasp set his hand on Itachi's back. "If it makes you feel any better about it, I'm getting my 'implant' tomorrow. Then I'll be invincible and _unstoppable_."

The woman leaped once more for the man and slammed both of her fists in to his crossed arms.

Itachi shifted under the hand on his back, and looked up at his companion. "You'll be the second one, right?"

"No, third to get an implant."

Itachi looked back down at the two fighters and scowled. "She was the first." It made his stomach churn. "She's. . . I don't know. . . She was fierce before, dedicated to the cause, but now. . ."

The man tossed her back to the floor and her mask cracked, sending one fox ear crashing in to the window hard enough to crack it. She rolled in agony for a moment, bleeding, before staggering to her feet and getting back in to position. Twin violet cheek marks were cut up each by three faint whisker lines.

"She's more aggressive." Itachi finished, quietly. "I'm afraid she's loosing her mind."

Hornet nodded. "Yes. Yes she is. But she _wanted_ to be first. And because she's his favorite she gets to have any thing she wants." Fingers curled angrily, painfully, in to Itachi's shoulder blade. "You would have thought Dove would be his favorite, considering."

Itachi nodded at that. "Yeah, you would think."

The man in black charged, knocking her again to the floor, slamming her back in to her own shattered fox mask.

She cried out in pain and curled up with a shudder.

The man walked up to her and pulled off his black hood, reviling a scared face with an x carved in to his chin and one eye wrapped tightly. A mop of unruly black hair fell over the white linen strips.

"I'm the last one, right?" Itachi asked.

Wasp nodded again. "Yes." His fingers relaxed. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

Below them the woman looked up, tears in her eyes, her body quivering. The man lifted a foot and slammed it hard in to her chin, sending her flying again.

"Not just any one can get in to ROOT you know, they have to have a good reason to join up. And an even better one to be let in."

Itachi nodded again.

"So what's your reason?"

She slammed hard in to the far wall and slid down to the floor, where she crumpled, rag-doll.

Itachi sucked in a breath and winced under his dark mask. "He'll kill her."

"Relax, he's testing her, remember. If he wanted to kill her he. . ."

A sudden flair of red bubbles engulfed her prone body and she looked up through stringy, bloody brown hair. Her wounds closed under the crimson suds.

". . . would have by now."

"That power. . ." Itachi started.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Wasp folded both of his hands behind his back.

Itachi nodded. "My clan and the rest of the village are at odds. I'm afraid of what might happen if some thing isn't done soon to ensure an all out war doesn't break loose."

"Afraid. . ." Wasp looked down at him.

"What?" Itachi asked.

"It's just that you seem to be afraid of every thing lately."

"I have my reasons." Itachi watched as the woman stood and clenched her fists.

Her hair, normally a soft brown, started to fly up in divided chunks around her shoulders.

"I'm afraid to loose the village, every one should be afraid of loosing the village. That's why ROOT exists. That's why_she_exists."

With a horrifying scream she charged the man below. In defense he ripped off his right hand glove and thrust his hand, palm out, towards her.

Wasp snorted. "She's nothing special, Raven. She's just the _first_. And a teacher's pet to boot."

Itachi could hear the disgust in his voice. "I liked her better before."

"You know the implants are going backwards, right?" Black and gold turned down to gaze at him. "You should have gone first, Itachi. . ."

"Itachi?"

There was a hand on his back. Itachi blinked. The raven mask was gone. Where was she?

"Itachi? Itachi, partner, buddy, wake up."

Where was the fox masked girl? Where was Wasp?

"Wow, he's just. . . blank. . . I could kill him with out even trying!" Familiar, but not ROOT.

He blinked, slowly.

"You lay one ******* finger on him I'll cut your tits off." Blue skin, shark teeth.

"STOP CALLING ME A ******* GIRL!"

Itachi blinked again and shook his head. "Diedara, Kisame, stop it."

Kisame grinned. "Welcome back." He was holding his sword aloft, it's sharp tip under Diedara's throat. "Have a good nap?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "How long until Zetsu returns?"

The blond bomb expert started to curse in the back ground.

Kisame thought the answer over, ignoring the blond. "Maybe ten minutes, maybe not that long. "What were you thinking about that had you so far gone _this_ _time_?"

"You mean he does this a lot?" Diedara asked, both angry and intrigued.

Itachi glared at him.

Kisame shrugged. "No, maybe. What the hell do you care? Even if he does I'm not letting you near him. My track record of not loosing a partner is still perfect!" He waggled his blade before the bomb expert's nose. "No touchy."

"Bastard."

"Bitch."

"I AM NOT A GIRL!" Diedra shrieked. "I will ******* Kill you BOTH!"

"Stop it!" Itachi snapped. "With the exception of Hidan we still have a no team killing rule."

Diedara seethed, but backed off. "One of these days I'll..." Before he could finish his murderous oath some thing exploded out side of the hide out. Both Itachi and Kisame glared at the blond.

"Wasn't mine." He replied, shocked.

"Must be the new guys." Kisame sheathed his blade and started towards the front door.

Diedara pointed to his eyes, then to Itachi, before following the shark Akatsuki out side. "I'm watching you."

Itachi sighed and rubbed his temple. "I freaking hope the new people are worth some thing." A second explosive rumble shook the base and Itachi hurried.

When he and the other two emerged blinking in to the sun they were greeted with the sight of smoke clearing the air directly over the head of a blue haired woman. Next to her was a tall, burly man with a smarmy grin on his face.

"Konan and Yahiko." Itachi greeted with a polite nod.

"Hey." Diedara hissed as he pointed to the smoke in the sky. "Did you just make a bomb?"

Konan nodded silently.

"She's the best bomb maker in the world!" Yahiko announced, beaming with pride.

"I'm not." She said quietly, blushing.

"You bet your flat chested ass you aren't!" Diedara snapped. "I am!"

She blinked and clenched her jaw a little. "I'm not flat chested."

"Yeah, you are!" Diedara smirked.

Konan's polite face reddened. "Yahiko, please stand back."

"Yes ma'am!" The taller ninja backed away quickly with a grin.

She drew out paper and started folding while Diedara pulled out some clay and let his hands chew on it. Both bomb users eyed each other with deadly intent.

"CAT FIGHT!" Kisame whooped.

Walking up from the distance was Zetsu and a male with an orange, swirly, mask with only one eye hole.

"Where are the kitties?" The orange masked one asked, sounding worried.

"And Tobi." Itachi said, eying the newcomer.

"So hey, that's a girl?" Yahiko gasped, delighted. "I thought Konan was going to be the only chick here! The blond is hot!"

Konan gently tossed over a paper bomb, folded to resemble a bird.

"Yah, Diedara here is totally a chick!" Kisame replied, grinning with all of his teeth out.

"I AM NOT A ******* GIRL YOU ******* WALKING SUSHI BAR! IF YOU CALL ME A CHICK ONE MORE TIME. . ." Diedara snapped his mouth shut when the paper bird floated just before his face. "Awe ****."

Itachi turned away as the paper discharged with a loud bang and, a moment latter, a lot of smoke. Harmless mostly, unless she had sent it up the blond's nose. Turning back Itachi was more or less satisfied that Diedara was only minimally singed, blackened a little, and not maimed.

Kisame sniggered, not even trying to hide his amusement.

Diedara scrubbed his sooty face with one sleeve. "I will kill you all in your sleep," he seethed.

"Wait... is he a chick, or is she a dude?" Yahiko asked, his brows tilted in to utter confusion.

Konan glared him in to silence.

"Ah haha, never mind." He scratched at his bushy orange hair.

"If you all are done." Black Zetsu said stiffly.

White Zetsu was chuckling.

"Forgive me." Konan bowed low. "My honor was challenged."

"And re-calmed!" Yahiko added.

"I don't see any kitties!" Tobi whined.

"Oh kill me now." Diedara glared. "Just don't tell me that. . ."

"This is your new partner!" White Zetsu announced. "Diedara, this is Tobi."

Diedara wilted a little. "I ******* hate my life."

"Tobi, the blond one that looks like a girl is your partner." Zetsu guided Tobi closer to Diedara. "Try not to irritate him."

"**HI**!" Tobi called out from three feet away as he waved manically. "I like cats too!"

Diedara turned away and sagged. "Good by ass holes. I'm committing Sepiku now." He started to vanish in to the dark lair. "Don't set my spot at the table tonight."

"No team killing." Itachi half growled. "That includes killing your self, jack ass."

Diedara wilted even further. "****."

Zetsu motioned towards the base. "Konan, Yahiko, please, you may rest up now if you would like. It's been a long. . ."

"I still don't see any kitties!" Tobi bent low to look under a shrub.

". . . _long_ walk."

The two new comers cast weary looks at Tobi.

Zetsu continued. "I am sure you'd like to have some rest before starting off on your mission to the Rocky Coven Temple to capture the four tailed beast."

"Thank you." Konan smiled and took Yahiko's hand. "It has been a rather interesting journey." She made dark eyes at Tobi. Then she and Yahiko passed Diedara, who flipped them off.

"So are they, you know . . ." Kisame asked Zetsu once they were gone.

"Know what?" Black Zetsu asked, blinking slowly.

"You know. . ." Kisame wiggle his eyes brows suggestively.

"I don't. . . What. . . what are you asking?" Zetsu stammered.

"You KNOW, are they. . ." He grinned and wiggled his brows even harder.

"What are you, four?" Itachi growled. "He wants to know if they are having sex, Zetsu."

Zetsu blinked, again. "What do you mean? With . . . each other?" He turned to Kisame, both halves looking perplexed.

"Yes!" Itachi snapped. "Why don't you get this?"

A moment of silence floated between the five people. Tobi was still looking for the non existent cats, oblivious.

Diedara rolled his eyes finally, and said. "The plant is Asexual, guys, remember?"

"What's an ax-usual?" Tobi asked, looking up from his search.

"Dear Kami's house on a rock, why did I get the idiot?"

Kisame grinned. "It doesn't matter. As soon as she gets a real look at me and my big sword she'll dump his weaponless ass."

Itachi turned and glared at him. "Shut up."

"Yep, my big sword."

"Shut UP."

"I still don't know where the ax-usuals are!" Tobie shouted, sounding miffed. "Or the kitties!"

Zetsu started to back away as he eyed the four Akastuki members. "I have one more order of business to attend, and it will take me a while. We'll be getting an equipment up grade soon, and I have to see to it that every thing Kazuku ordered will arrive like it should. Itachi, because I'll be away for an extended period of time. . ."

"Ho no! Did the ax-usuals hurt the kitties?" Tobi cried. "We have to help them! They could be in trees!"

". . . you are in-charge while I'm gone. Try not to let any one else die."

"I'm in charge?" Itachi asked, brows lifting.

"Yes."

"What?" Diedara howled. "NO!"

"Please keep an eye on things here." Zetsu started to sink in to the ground. "Keep an eye on Tobi. He's. . . a good boy. . . but. . ."

"And the Ax-usuals will use their big axes to cut down the trees!"

Zetsu sunk further. "Good luck, try not to get killed."

Once he was gone the four Akastuki members stood in silence.

As Tobi ran about, looking up every tree he could find, repeatedly, the three other slowly turned their eyes on him. He tripped and landed in a heap under one stately trunk, and whined. "I think they ran away!"

Diedara turned to Itachi. "There is no ******* way I'm listing to you, or taking that _thing_ as my partner."

"Diedara, I almost hate to do this to you." Itachi glared, and activated his Sharingan.

"You wouldn't."

"Here's the deal. A: you follow my orders and play nice with your new partner, all of your own free will, or B: I'll make you do it, plus make you make me a sandwich."

"Oh, can you make him make me a sandwich too?" Kisame asked.

"Yeah, what ever." Itachi growled.

Diedara scowled. "Fine. I'll take the ******* rooky."

Kisami tisked. "Awe man, I'm hungry."

"Get your own danm sandwich." Diedra hissed.

"Bitch, get in the kitchen." Kisame shot back.

"Diedara, make Kisame and I a sandwich." Itachi said, flatly, cutting off another fight before it could get started.

"Is that an order?" Diedra asked, his teeth tightly clenched together.

Itachi nodded and tapped his cheek under his eye. "You have a choice. Free will, or force. I want Peanut butter and jelly, and I'll get it one way or another."

The blond glared, scrubbed more soot off of his face, then turned away. "_Fine_." He reached out and grabbed Tobi, dragging the new member with him. "Come boy."

"I want Tuna!" Kisame called after them.

"Remember, no team killing." Itachi added. "So no poison, or bamboo shreds, or any other lethal ingredients!"

Diedara flipped them both off before he vanished underground to follow his orders.

After a long moment Kisami turned to Itachi. "So. . . earlier you went all blank on me again. This is happening a lot now. You OK?"

"I'm fine."

"I need to know if you can handle a fight. We'll be going after the tailed beasts. I want to know that I don't have to watch your back every second. . ."

"I said I'm fine." Itachi growled. He started to descend back in to the base as well. "Nothing will distract me from my mission."

Kisame shrugged and followed him. "If you say so."


	31. Unto Uchiha Part 3

It's been a while, yes... *Taps finger tips together*

And I have very little excuse. SO...

...

Yeah...

...

Author's notes: I made an error in the last chapter during Itachi's flash back. Hornet from Sasuke's 4 part story, and Wasp from the last chapter, are the same person. My apologies.

* * *

"...Because we need to capture the tailed beasts." Diedra answered the newest question and took a slow sip of his tea while trying not to make eye contact with the hole in the swirling mask that was hovering only a foot away from him to the right.

"I'm impressed," Itachi pored him self a bowl of cereal. "You haven't tried to eviscerate him once today."

"That's because he just got up," Kisame plopped down at the table and stabbed his tamagoyaki with a chop stick. "Give him five more minutes."

"We have a no team killing rule." Diedra took another calming sip of tea. "Tobi, _sit down_."

The makes team member plopped down and turned full body to the eggs on his plate. "But _why_?"

Itachi sat down across from Diedra. "I missed the question."

"Why are we here?" Tobi twisted about in his seat and looked at every thing, except Itachi.

"That's a good question, Tobi." Itachi stirred his cereal absent mindedly. "Some of us are here because our pasts have such incredibly horrific moments that we are driven to avenge upon those whom we hate," He nodded towards Kisame. "Others are here because they had noting better to do with their pathetic lives, and were convinced by a very persuasive person to join our noble cause," He looked at Diedra.

"We have a no team killing rule." Diedra recited, like a mantra. "No team killing rule," The last of his tea was gone.

"And others are here because. . . well, hell, why am I here? Was it because my village is lead by ass holes who are ignorant of hoe the world works? Because my clan failed me in every possible ******* way? Or am I just so evil I hate every body and want to end all life as we know it?"

Tobi poked at his food again. "I mean why are we here at the table?"

Itachi blinked, "Oh, uh. . ."

Tobi jabbed a chopstick towards the living room, sending food flying. "My mom always let me eat my breakfast in front of the TV, so that way she could have her 'quiet' time. I don't know what quiet time she meant, her and dad made a lot of noise some times. They didn't like it when I was in the kitchen and. . ."

"Quiet time!" Diedra cut Tobi off mid sentence and dragged him towards the TV. "So, you like cartoons, right?"

"YAY, cartoons!"

Leaning over Kisame watched the blond turn the TV on and flip through a number of channels. "I think they seem to be bonding nicely." He chuckled and sat back up, grinning at Itachi.

Itachi gave a stiff one shoulder shrug. "As long as they don't kill each other then I don't care."

Konan walked in then and sat down at the far end of the table. "Morning."

Kisame grinned and leaned closer to her and purred, "Good morning."

She leaned away from Kisame and smiled at Itachi. "So, you are the one in charge, right?"

Itachi looked up from his food. "Yeah."

"Any orders for the day?" She toyed with her hair.

"Eat. Kill stuff. Eat again. Go to bed." He returned his attention to his meal.

"You know," Kisame said showing his teeth, "I'm his partner so that makes me second in command."

Itachi's head snapped up. "What? No it doesn't."

Kisame's grin melted to a frown. "Why not?"

"There is no second in command. There's me, and there there's the rest of you," Itachi scooped up his empty bowl and stood. "I give orders, every one else follows them. No one else gives orders."

"What if you die?" Kisame asked. "Who takes over?"

"No body. Zetsu would come back and reappoint some one."

Konan smiled up at him. "Makes sense to me."

"What makes sense?" Yahiko asked as he sauntered in.

Konan sat up straight and plastered a cool look over her face. "Itachi was explaining his authority."

"That doesn't seem to need explanation." The red head snatched the box of cerial up and plunged his hand deep in to it's contents, then pulled out as much as he could hold and crammed it all in to his mouth. "I'mf sur itf wath esplanth't by theth-thu."

Kisame glared up at Yahiko. "What?"

Konan stood and gently took the box from him. "I'll make you breakfast, then we can go practice our moves together."

"Thk thu." Yahiko plopped down in to a chair and chewed loudly.

Kisame slammed his palms down on the table and stood with a small growl. "Chew and swallow, your not a Paraná."

Yahiko stuck his tongue out, showing off all of his chewed food.

"That's it, Itachi, I'm going to pound him!" Kisame snapped.

"Are you asking his permission?" Konan asked.

"No, I'm telling him! Itachi!"

Itachi rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Don't. . ." A headache was coming on. He closed his eyes for a moment and drew in a sharp breath.

"I'm telling him!" The walls were grey when he opened his eyes.

"You had better not." Itachi rubbed the bridge of his nose. His head hurt. "You know tattling is frowned upon." He shoved up his mask and looked up at his companion, "I'm afraid we'll all get in trouble."

Wasp sighed. "You can't stop me, Raven. Not this time."

"I'm not trying to stop you, I'm trying to reason with you. Some thing like this could get both of us in trouble."

A second voice chimed in. "So I'll tell him what happened."

Itachi turned and glared. Before him was an impressively large man with a frog's mask. "If you tell him then you'll be in trouble too, _Minoru_."

The frog masked man folded his arms over his thick chest. "Who said I'd tell him the truth?"

Itachi slumped, taken aback. "You... you'd lie?" He shook his head. "You've changed."

"I haven't changed." Frog snapped. "I've just been shown the _truth_, Itachi. The _real_ truth." Frog lifted his hand and stared at it. A finger was missing. "Honesty and lies, they don't really matter when you are dead, do they?"

"That's enough." Wasp shoved Frog's hand down. "No body will say any thing and this will all blow over on it's own. OK?"

Frog snatch his hand away from Wasp's grasp. "Your not my master. Your not even on my team. Lay off."

"You have changed." Itachi leaned against the wall as a small tremor of doubt bubbled up from deep with in. "Every time some one else gets one of those. . . those things. . . they change. And not for the better."

"Power changes people," Frog shrugged. "That's the truth."

"...and that's the truth." Kisame snapped, inches away from the red head group member. "Right Itachi?"

Itachi gazed at the two men, unsure of his surroundings for a moment. "...What?" The world blurred with every throb in his head. The grey walls were replaces with a shabby kitchen tile set.

Kisame turned and glared at him. Slowly he backed down and a way from Yahiko. "Weren't you even listening?"

Itachi rubbed at the bridge of his nose again. "Stop fighting. There's to be no fighting in this base." He took a step back from the two men towards where Diedra and Tobi had gone.

"Itachi." Kisame strode up to him and pinned him with a cold stare and whispered, "You zoned off again, didn't you?"

Itachi shoved past him and stomped in to the other room. "No." He cast a dark glance over his shoulder. "No fighting."

Before any one could argue against his order Itachi was in the other room. He made his way up to the couch where Diedara and Tobi were watching a cartoon of some kind. Itachi stared at the bright colors and found them to be dizzying. His stomach made a small twist and he found him self fighting off what he'd just eaten. He leaned heavily on the couch, startling Diedra.

The blond glanced up at him with a deep frown, "You look like you are going to puke. Do it on me and I'll ******* gut you."

Itachi sneered and shoved off the back of the ratty couch. "I'm not going to puke."

"Do you want to watch Zanny Zappers Attack Pesky Poppers with us?" Tobi asked, wiggling where he sat.

Itachi shook his head 'no', then turned away and headed towards his room. There were many many things that needed to be done, he knew, but at the moment he couldn't think of what they were. The hall way that lead to each room was dark, and cool, and here he felt better some how.

He was nearly to his room when the pounding died down to a dull ache. He rubbed at his temples and took a calming breath. Here, in the dark of the hallway, he felt better. Glancing over his shoulder he squinted in to the light, and the head ache returned. He flinched back and reached almost blindly for the door knob. His hand hit old plaster and he groped for the smooth metal knob for a moment, before growling softly in frustration.

His head hurt. His eyes hurt. He buried the bridge of his nose in the palm of his free hand. There was an almost interpretable humming in his ears, like electricity. Like Chakra.

Like Chakra not his own.

He lifted his head, a slow realization starting to take shape, when a heavy hand clapped over his shoulder. He squeeled – in a manly way - and leaped away from the hand, only to crash through the door opposite his own. He reached out, flailing, and gripped the other door's knob stopping his fall before he could slam in to the ground.

Looming like death before him was a dark figure. It's silhouette suddenly split at the top by a row of glittering shark's teeth.

"**** KISAME!" Itachi pulled him self back to his feet. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"OK, see, this is why I'm concerned. If I can sneak up on you when your in a hallway, while having one of your zone out moments..."

"I wasn't zoning out, I was distracted!" Itachi retorted hotly.

"How is that different?" Kisame stepped in to the room and leaned against the closet door. "We aren't going to go up against children, we're going up against the world's most deadly creatures that have ever existed. How do you expect me to keep my perfect score of partnership with when your head's so far in the ******* clouds that you can't even hear me in a hall way. It's not that ******* hard. . ."

"There is a difference." Itachi stood to his full hight and stabbed a finger towards the hall way. "This is our home base, I'm not expecting a tailed beast to come walking up behind me. No one here is going to kill me."

"Diedra would have slit your throat about eight times this week had I not been right there to baby sit you." The shark growled.

"I don't need your help, man, OK? I didn't get here by. . ."

Kisame slammed his fist in to the door behind him with a snarl. The door cracked a little. "Wake the **** up, Itachi. This isn't your clan who looked blindly the other way while you slit their throats. This is the real thing. You were put in charge as my leader. Lead, or get out of my way!"

Itachi lowered his gaze, feeling the headache shift and burn.

"What's going on?" Kisame asked, and leaned back to cross his arms. "What in the hell is going on with you?"

Itachi hesitated for a moment, unsure. Before he could formulate a reply however the door Kisame was leaning against let out a warning creak, then started to splinter.

"CRAP!" Kisame tried to pull away from the shattered wood, but it gave out and he fell backwards and landed with a crash in to dozens of wooden puppets. One of them yanked free of it's stand and fell over the blue skinned ninja. Kisame flailed for a moment then stopped, frozen, eyes wide with horror.

"Kisame?" Itachi stepped up to the door and peered in and down. On top of Kisame was a near perfect replica of the shark toothed man, face to face, giving him a daggers and ivory grin. Kisame tried to shove it off, but he and his wooden doppelganer were tangled up in a rats nest of chakra wiring and puppet rigging.

"Get. It. Off." Kisame breathed, horrified. "Get it off!" He started to writhe under the puppet.

Itachi reached down and tugged on a limb, but the two blue skinned bodies were far to entangled to be carelessly seperated. "Hold still!"

Kisame tried to still him self, but continued to twitch under the jagged grin. "Get me out of here."

"Calm the hell down, it's just a puppet." Itachi tried to pull the chakra thread apart with his hands, but it wouldn't give. "I'm going to have to cut. . ."

A booming voice interrupted him. "WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING IN SASORI'S ROOM?"

Itachi dropped the threads with a -manly- yelp before turning and glaring up at the blond bomb user who was seething behind him. "What the **** does it look like I'm doing? This thing attacked Kisame."

Diedra's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You are going to wreck it." He reached down and, picking out a few thin chakra strands, pulled the puppet up and off of the prone ninja. The puppet rose smoothly and stepped back. It was still looking down at Kisame with the insane grin.

Kisame sat up and scowled. "That thing needs to be burned. It's creepy as hell. I do NOT look like that!"

Itachi stood and glanced in to the closet. A puppet matching his own features gazed out dully from the dark. Except for the joints it looked as human as Itachi did. "What is all of this? What. . ." He spotted even more replicas, one of each of their members. All except the new recruits.

Diedra, still scowling with tightly bottled rage, walked the puppet even further from Kisame, who was glaring dangerously at it. "Don't you dare burn them."

Kisame bared his teeth and was about to say some thing, but Itachi held up his hand. "Diedra, what are they for."

The blond carefully brought the puppet the back to the closet and rehung it.

"And where did you learn how to use them?" Itachi added almost as an after thought.

"I don't have to answer you." He scooped the closet door up and propped it back against the closet's door frame. It fell back the moment he let go, and landed at his feet. He ground out a curse and glared at Kisame. "You had better fix this."

"We will, but you need to tell us what's going on." Itachi stood between the blond and the door to the hall, trapping him bodily. "That's an order."

From the hall Tobi peered in behind the appointed leader.

Through his teeth Diedra grunted out a flat reply, "I don't know what he was planning exactly, but he told me that they could come in handy in a number of ways."

"That's still creepy." Kisame gave his wooden counterpart a cold look. "Creepy and inaccurate."

"Is there a doll man of me?" Tobi asked, peering in side. "That would be so cool, it would be like my own best friend! Only I would be the me that I would like to be the me with!"

Diedra tossed him a scowl. "No, there isn't one of you." He took a breath and glanced back at the puppets. "Sasori taught me the basics. Again, just incase it came in handy. I don't know any thing else."

"It's sort of a moot point now that he's dead." Kisame picked the door up and rammed it in to place, like the lid of a sarcophagus.

Like the lid of a sarcophagus the door slid open and Hornet sat up. He held his head for a moment before sliding his mask back and gasping for air. "OK, you can't kill me by suffocation at a half an hour." He took another deep breath and let it out slowly. "But you also should warm me ahead of time. That spicy rice makes not a good smell the next day."

Dove leaned back away from the newly opened container and waved a hand before her face. "Oh. . . it's in my mouth!" She backed away even farther and coughed.

Raven backed away as well, cautiously. He glanced up at the other woman standing next to the sarcophagus. She was adjusting her Fox mask with a disgusted snort. "Are you going to make him go in there longer?" Raven managed over the waft of unpleasant air.

"No." She scooped up a stack of notes and looked them over. "I have all of the data I need now."

Dove, still coughing, stepped forward a little. "Are you all right Hornet?"

The Black and yellow clad Ninja nodded. "Yeah, but I'm going to have to hang my gear on the line for at least an hour." He crawled out and stood on wobbling legs. Dove reached out to steady him.

Raven stepped around them and peered over Fox's shoulder. "Are you done testing him?"

She nodded silently.

"Are you going to test any one else?"

"Hawk." She replied flatly then turned to go, but as she passed Raven he felt her hand slide along the small of his back, down, and around his hip. "I'll be testing you, too. Endurance." A moment latter she was gone through the door.

Raven stood, gapping at where she had been, and reached down to where she had stroked him.

"I didn't want to say this while she was here, but I think she's lost her damn mind." Dove let go of Hornet and grabbed a few papers of her own. "I'm not letting her near me. I don't care what our dear leader says. Pushing us to our limit like this is dangerous, and stupid."

"But we have to listen to him, he's our leader." Kisame said flatly.

Itachi blinked. He was pressed up against the far wall, Kisame's hand resting on his chest almost gently. His face was all teeth and anger though, directed at the blond bomb user.

Diedra scoffed. "But look at him, he's. . ."

"A-Wake now!" Tobi shouted, interrupting. "Morning!"

Itachi brought his hand up to his head and held his temple. The warnings of a headache were developing. "I wasn't asleep!"

"Who was asleep?" Yahiko stepped in to the room with a bowl of rice in one hand. "Do we get naps here?"

"Naps? I love naps! Tobi all but flailed in excitement. His voice was a spoke through Itachi's already pounding head.

Diedra whipped around to the new person and snarled, "Get out of here, this isn't your room!"

"Lets all go." Kisame snapped back. He grabbed the front of Itachi's uniform and pulled roughly. Itachi followed with out protest as the shark man shoved his ay out in to the hall and over to Itachi's door. With his free hand he tosed the door open, then roughly shoved Itachi inside.

The Uchiha stumbled just a little before coming to a shuddering stand in the center of his own room. Kisame followed him in and slammed the door behind them. Not latching it bounced back and open a little ways.

"OK, what the hell?" Kisame ground out and stepped closer, eyes narrowing "Why. . ."

"Some one's trying to get my memories." Itachi hissed. He took a step back and hit the edge of his bed. It was all he could do not to fall back on to it. "I felt foregn chakra."

Kisame scowled, but then let out a slow breath. "That's not good."

"No. it's not."

From the hall Diedara's voice drifted in, angry and directed mostly at Tobi. There was a muted crash and Yahiko laughed.

Kisame stood mutely, glaring at every thing and nothing all at once, while Itachi rubbed his temples. "Kisame. . ." He finally half whispered.

His partner looked up, the anger displaced a little with a look of worry. "What?"

Before Itachi could answer there was a blood curtailing scream from some where in the base. Itachi's attention instantly snapped to the hall, and he bound for the door. Yahiko was already in front of him, calling out to Konan.

"Move." Itachi shoved the orange haired man out of the way and raced in to the kitchen, where he found the paper user trembling on the floor before the open refrigerator. "It. . . it tried to bite me!"

Itachi sighed and stepped up to the fridge, where he then bent down and peered in to glare at Hidan. "Is that true?"

"NO!" I was trying to be courteous and kiss this bitche's hand! I'm no cad!" He replied hotly.

"It talks?" She yelped.

Yahiko was now crouch behind her protectively. "Shh, It's OK, I'm sure it can't hurt you."

Diedara entered the kitchen with Tobi hot on his heals. "What's going on?"

""Nothing." Itachi closed the door. A round of protests and expletives were cut off. "Konan just met Hidan."

"What's a Hidan?" Tobie asked, and bounced up to the fridge. He opened it and tilted his head. "Hi!"

Hidan blinked, then smiled. "Hi!"

Yahiko was scooping Konan up off the floor. "And just what in the hell is that thing?"

"Ass warmer." Diedra replied, then yanked Tobi away from the fridge. "Don't play with that, Tobi, it'll give you rabies or some thing." The blond dragged his exuberant partner back towards the hall. "Come on, we're going to fix that door."

"Yay! I always wanted to be a chiropractor!"

As they left Konan tossed one last unsure look towards the refrigerator, before she and Yahiko left for out side. "I'm starting to have my doubts about this place." She leaned in to Yahiko.

"It's all right baby, I'll keep you safe." He wrapped his arm back around her.

"Well, some people!" Hidan huffed. "Um, I can't stomp off, would you mind closing the door, but, angrily or some thing?"

"Oh, uh. . ." Itachi grabbed the door again. "Sure." He slammed it as hard as he could.

A very muffled "Thank you." Drifted out.

Alone, and momentarily free of any intrusion, Itachi sank in to a kitchen chair and put his head in his hands.

"So who's trying to get in?"

Startled Itachi snapped his head back up. "Kisame, ****." He lowered his head and rubbed his temples again.

The blue skinned ninja pulled up a chair and sat down. "Well?"

Itachi glanced down the dark hall to where Tobi had gone off to. "I. . .Have my suspicions but. . ."

Some thing heavy crashed and Diedara's angry voice echoed through the base. "IDIOT!"

". . . I also have my doubts."

"Well, until we know who's trying to get your memories, I suggest you and I get the hell out of here before I end up loosing my perfect record."

Wearily Itachi consented with a nod. "Yeah. OK, I'll think about it." He stood and walked up to Kisame. Hesitantly he gave one flat pat to his partner's shoulder, then walked on.


	32. UntoUchiha Part Four

Hello, all my lovely readers. Another update! And so soon after the last one (Comparatively)! This should be the last of the Itachi stuff for a little while... But I hope you have enjoyed it. I'm taking this group on a vastly different path than what they were all original going to go down.

I hope you enjoy this. I had a lot of fun writing it.

* * *

The room below was square, grey, and was hardened concrete and steel from floor to ceiling. Save for one highly reinforced observation window, and the heavy steel door, there were no variations or marks any where to be seen. Despite the countless practice matches and fights that had taken place with in the pale walls no evidence remained. The floor was almost gleaming, and the walls looked as fresh as they day they had been erected. The simulation arena was spotless.

Raven leaned as close to the glass as he dared, with out actually touching it. He did not want to be the first one to mar the glossy surface. That dubious privilege would fall on one of the people who were currently entering the room below. Raven held his breath, nervous to see exactly what this fight would involve.

The last one had been vicious, and very bloody.

Hawk, Hornet, and Red Panda stepped in through the steel door. Hornet started to stretch and warm up, while Hawk glanced about.

Marvelling at the sterile environment Hawk grinned, "I don't know who they hired as janitors, but they are not getting payed enough."

"I know right?" Red Panda looked all around the room. "I heard your last fight painted the room red!"

"That was actually my fight." Hornet boasted. "No body can kill me."

The door suddenly slammed open. All three makes turned to see Fox.

"Bet you ten bucks she'll try." Hawk quipped and thrust his thumb over his shoulder at her.

Raven couldn't help but lean so close his nose almost skimmed the glass.

She strode in with out looking at any one and marched clear up to the opposite wall. There she reached out and pressed her palm to the grey surface before leaning her head back.

"What is she doing?" Hawk asked.

"Who cares?" Hornet drew his body in to a fighting stance. "We both have our enhancements, so we're on equal footing now."

She ignored him.

Hawk stepped back, his fingers flexing in and out of tight fists. "Guys, some thing about this doesn't feel right."

Red Panda slapped him on the shoulder. "I know, three against one, it's kind of unfair of our gracious leader to do this to her."

She slid her hand around in a circle, still ignoring them, still letting her head roll around her shoulders.

"Just be careful." Hawk took his own fighting stance. "I think she's planning some thing."

"She's a medic remember? She's not even trained to fight. What's she going to do? Take my blood pressure?" Red Panda spread his hands and shrugged.

Fox's fingers spread and she lifter her head slowly.

Raven made contact with the cool, clear surface, marring it, eyes wide.

There was an imperceptibly calm moment after that, then blood. Fox hit Hornet first and ripped his stomach open. The gold and black clad man crumpled like a rag doll. Red panda was next when her foot slammed hard in to his head. He dropped like a stone.

Hawk held up his hands. "Hey, I didn't want to fight you in the first place."

She balled her fist. "You tell that to the enemy when they want to kick your ass."

Red Panda started to rise, and shook his head. He pulled a blade from his holster and stood on shaking legs.

Hawk glanced at him once, then focused on Fox. "You know, I used to have a lot of respect for you, but now, I think you are one crazy bitch."

"Your just upset you haven't gotten your enhancement yet." Her voice held a smirk in it. "Once you have it, you'll never want to be who you were before. I can promise you that."

Red Panda steadied him self, and coiled for the attack. A moment latter Hornet started to pick him self up off the floor with a grunt. The sound attracted her attention, and she turned to look. She spotted Red Panda and quick as a flash she grabbed her own blade.

The two rushed each other and for a moment steel met steel, then Fox pulled her other hand up and using her fingers and a chakra blade struck out fast for Red Panda's heart.

Hawk leaped to stop the attack. "NO!"

Raven couldn't watch. He turned away, horrified.

"Not so tough are you?" A smooth, almost humored voice asked. In the Background two male voiced cried out in pain.

Raven looked up to find Dove leaning in the door way. Her mask was up and her eyes were dancing with a dark merriment that made his skin crawl.

"I don't see why we have to fight each other." Raven heard the tremor in his own voice. "What's the point of all this? Why are we being sent to slaughter each other?"

Dove stepped past him and looked down in to the room. "Can you trust any one on the battle field who hasn't had your life in the palm of their hand?"

Raven turned and looked back down. Red Panda was sprawled on the ground, his chest torn open and bleeding. Fox was kneeling over him, soothing back beads of pained sweat, while healing his wound.

"She never meant to kill him?" Raven asked.

"I don't know." Dove replied. "If she was ordered to she might have. If we can't trust each other while practising, though, then we can't trust each other when we are asked to do the real thing."

Raven pressed his hand against the glass. Hawk was crumpled in a far corner, clutching his arm and trembling. "He hasn't gotten his enhancement yet."

"No, and you can see just how weak he is next to the others." Dove set her hand on Raven's shoulder. "All she had to do was touch him and he went flying. That's the power we will all have, Itachi."

"That much power, that fast, is dangerous with out training and the right mentality." Raven retorted.

"What are you more afraid of?" Dove asked, letting go. "Loosing your life, or loosing some one else's life? Ultimately that is the only factor you will face when deciding how to fight."

Hornet climbed to his feet and reached in to his pocket. He pulled a slim sheet of paper out and flicked it towards Fox and Red Panda. Hawk cried out a warning, and, just as the paper drifted towards the medic and her victim, she lifted both hands and let out an enormous burst of Chakra.

The light from the combined paper bomb and the counter attack was blinding . Glass shattered, but there was no sound.

Itachi cried out and sat up, shaking, in the dark. He gasped for breath and ran his hand through sticky sweaty hair. Trembling he slid out of bed and rubbed his hands down his face.

Before he could rightly clear his mind he was standing before another glass window, looking down at Dove. She was maskless and laying lifelessly on a hospital bed. A very pale boy with inky black hair was standing stoicly by her side. Behind him Danzo was also standing, also with out expression.

A fist landed softly against the glass next to Raven's head. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it, what in the hell she was thinking."

Raven looked up to see Fox glaring down in to the room. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what she did."

Fox snorted. "She picked the wrong goal." Fox nodded towards the thin youth. "You got a brother about his age, don't you?"

Raven nodded.

"Scrap of advice Itachi, kill him. And do it quick, because your enhancement is scheduled for tomorrow." She lowered her fist and grabbed his shoulder. "Kill your bonds, you'll like the new one a whole lot better."

Itachi shuddered and dropped to the edge of his bed. He could all but feel chakra rummaging through his mind. He forced him self to be quiet, and to trace the thin shreds of energy, but they were coming from every where, and no where.

Far to unsettled to sleep now he stood again and made his way out in to the hall. From there he wandered up and out in to the night air. Even here he couldn't get away from the prying, crawling fingers of chakra.

"Hey."

Itachi bit back a yelp and leaped to a fighting stance. Behind him, stifling a yawn, Kisame stood in little more than his boxers. "**** Kisame!" Itachi lowered his guard and sighed. "Don't sneak up on me."

"Hey don't bitch at me because you suck at being a Ninja!"

"I am not bitching!" Itachi snapped.

Kisame scratched, and glared, then pointed at Itachi with the hand he'd scratched with. "Look, my grandmother at the age of ninty-eight had better reflexes than you do now. And look, hell, If I'm going to keep my record, and I do plan to, I'm going to start hitting you instead of warning you. . ."

"Ok ok ok..." Itachi growled. "I get the point. Why are you out here? Are you stalking me?"

"I'm freaking baby-sitting you." He folded his arms over his chest and nodded back towards the base's entrance. "Lest _she _get a hold of you."

"I heard that ass-hole!" Diedra shouted from behind them.

"The hell?" Itachi peered in to the dark entrance and saw the bomb user fiddeling with his loose hair. "Why are you out here?"

"She's trying to kill you!" Kisame replied.

"Believe it or not, Fish Sticks, Not every thing I do revolves around your girlfriend."

"Oh wow, Diedra." Itachi grumbled. "Pot shot much? Just because every one calls you a girl. . ." He tossed a dark look at Kisame, ". . . which I told you to _stop_ doing. . . Doesn't give you the right to call other people, you know, less than manly people, but people none the less, a girl as well. Two wrongs don't make a right."

Kisame smirked. "And two boobs don't make a. . ."

"Finish that sentence and I swear on my mothers own grave I will kill you all." Itachi snarled.

Kisame opened his mouth to protest, but Itachi glared darkly. "Don't push it. I don't need you stalking me, I don't believe Diedra is dumb enough to try and kill me out in the open like this in the middle of the night. . . it's not artsy enough. . ."

"Did you just complement me?" The blond asked from under a tangle of blond strands, surprised.

"Shut up attention whore." Itachi sighed. "All I want is for you idiots to leave me alone for ten ******* minutes, so I can get some air. I mean seriously, are you both so attention deprived you have to follow me around for human interaction? Why can't you two play with each other?"

"I. . ." Kisame stammered.

"Close it." Itachi snapped.

"I'm actually out here to find Tobi." Diedra said, subdued.

"You lost him?" Kisame asked. "That's your second partner in what, a week? Plus the tailed beast?"

"I didn't loose him, he wandered off." Diedra stepped out from the base's door and tossed his loose hair out of his eyes. "Just like your partner did, apparently."

"Oh so you were watching him." Kisame half growled. "To kill him I'll bet."

"Shut _up_!" Itachi took a slow breath as anger fizzled up and mixed with the foreign chakra.

"I happened to be up at the same time he got up. We are on the same ******* team! You think I want to just blow things to hell for the thrill of it?"

"Yeah!" Kisame uncrossed his arms and stabbed a finger at Diedra. "You call your crappy explosions art. . ."

"_Shut UP_!" Itachi ground out. As the anger rose the chakra still festering in the back of his mind spiked. He winced.

"Itachi?" Kisame ventured.

Wearily he sighed. "For the last time stop insulting Diedra. You are a savage Mist Warrior who is an S-ranked missing Nin. Not a Chunin trying to impress your classmates."

Kisame huffed.

"That's an order." Itachi added firmly while rubbing his temples. "Diedra, where was the last time you saw Tobi, and what was he doing."

The blond looked away for a moment and mumbled some thing.

"What was that?" Itachi demanded.

"I said I was helping him get his pajamas on."

"You were what?" Kisame asked, grinning. "Were your maternal instincts kicking in?"

"Hey, Itachi just told you to lay off." Diedra said, casting Itachi a small, fleeting, but imploring look.

"Actually, I'm going to have to give Kisame this one." Itachi said with a shrug. "I mean, _dude_."

"He was stuck in his shirt, OK? He was failing about and getting to damn close to my explosives for me to not help him. I had just gotten his shirt on and went to pick up his slipper, and then he was gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Itachi demanded, feeling the headache gain strength.

"I mean poof, gone, like he just evaporated." Diedra replied.

"You did loose him." Kisame said, then lifted his hands. "Just saying."

Diedra glared and took a breath to retort, but Itachi cut him off. "All right, he can't have just vanished. He can't be far, so we'll just have to split up and look until we find him."

"What I don't get is how he made it here?" Kisame shook his head. "He's just so. . ."

"I'm sure he has a special ability, or like, power or some thing he can use in battle." Itachi offered. "Like. . ."

"Like the power of an Uchiha?" Kisame asked. "I'm only saying it because I heard a rumor." He turned to Diedra. "You helped him get dressed. . . or undressed as it were..."

"He didn't take his mask off." Diedra said quickly. "He was mostly dressed, almost fully."

"Wow, you aren't embarrassed about that now, are you?" Itachi asked. "Smooth."

"Look, can we just look for him, or are we going to just stand here and talk about it?" Diedra stepped back.

"I think we still need to talk, more specifically, I need to talk. I'm sick of this organization working like children are in charge. Now that I'm in command, I'm going to make a few more rules. First rule, no one looses a team mate."

"I thought the first rule was no team killing." Kisame said.

"That's the main rule, not the first rule." Itachi managed through clenched teeth. "Second rule, from now on there are no partners. Just a team. This stupid rivalry thing is going to get us all killed, or, you guys killed. I have no problem fighting beside either of you. It's Tobi that has me worried. Which brings me to rule number three. We don't know what he is, what he wants, or what he can do, so from how on, once we find him, and we will find him no matter how hard, or how long we have to look, he can never be left alone."

"You don't trust him?" Kisame asked.

"I don't think we know him well enough to be able to yet. He could be harmless, or it could be a cover."

"I believe he was legitimately stuck in that shirt." Diedra said. Flatly. With out any hesitation.

"And that's part of the problem." Itachi ground out. "Why would command give us an agent who can't even navigate his own cloths, let alone a ninja battle?"

"I don't know!" Diedra retorted. "Why would they leave us with only the head of a team mate?"

Kisame shrugged and smiled, "I think the new guy is fun."

Itachi cast him a glare. "I think he's trouble, and I want him found. And I want him found now."

"Where should we look?" Kisame asked.

"I don't care, just look where ever in the hell I'm not, cover ground!"

Diedra glanced at Kisame.

"What are you waiting for? Find him and detain him!"

Kisame sucked in a breath and glanced behind Itachi, then at Diedra.

"Come on guys, we need some answers, for **** sake! Or very lives could be in utter peril."

Both slowly looked at, then past, Itachi.

"I mean he could be any where, plotting against us! He could have powers, you know, comparable, bit not as good as, but nearly as good as mine. Like superb visual powers to see really well, and, you know, see what ever you are looking for." Itachi's brows wrinkled together as he gleared at the two before him. "Knowledge, you know, of memories of... where people are. . . What are you ass holes looking at?"

"Um..." Kisame started.

Itachi scowled. "He's behind me isn't he?"

Diedra nodded.

"Rrrrrright."

"What are we looking for?" A chipper, though confused voice asked.

Itachi sighed. "I ******* hate this ******* team."

…...

As four figured shuffled back in to the base, one figure cursing and ranting loudly, a swath of red hair swayed in the gentle breeze. Dark violet eyes watched them. Watched Itachi.


	33. In The Shadows

Hey... Look at that. An new chapter.  
It's a new year, good to start out with a new chapter, right? I know this is going to be full of bugs, errors, and the like, but I thought I'd better just get this up and out of my system before any more time passed. I had bad writer's block, but I got some really wonderful words of encouragment. I was deeply touched by one letter and just knew I had to get over the writer's block and get this up.

Thank you, all of you.

* * *

In The Shadows

* * *

Shizune opened the door to her apartment, the day's events still swirling through her mind like an enraged hive of bees. Not one moment would hold still or silent, and all were demanding attention all at once. She pressed cool fingers to her temple, and closed the door behind her.

With Naruto's return every thing she'd come to know and accept as reality had been more or less shattered, and her world upended. Jiraya had returned to the Hokage tower and related the events of the failed mission to save Kakashi and the two still living Sanin were almost numb with shock. Shizune was sure that it would take days for Tsunade to gather her self enough to start sorting her thoughts enough to take firm action. Until then they had Iruka.

Sweet, kind, gentle, loving, Iruka. Iruka the teacher, Iruka the polite and helpful paper worker.

"Lady Shizune."

Iruka who was sitting on her couch with his hair down in messy waves and an arm full of blond teen.

"Umino-san." She replied softly, noting Naruto was asleep. "I heard about Kakashi."

The sweet teacher's face darkened a little. He glanced away, at the mirror, and scowled. "How could he?"

Shizune hung her purse and slipped a shoe off. "He's had an enormous shock. I really don't blame him. Can you?"

"He's unstable." He said, bitter.

Iruka looked at her, coolly. She could see anger swirling in his hair shaded eyes. He looked disheveled and exhausted, not at all like the coolly collected man that had been in the operating room only a few hours before. It reminded her of when she had found him in the file room, sorting paper, while shampoo dried in his hair. He'd been so lost him self, and scared, and stressed, that she wondered if things would be different if she hadn't found him latter on when he'd injected him self with poison. "You did try to kill your self, after all. She added, whisper quiet.

Iruka's face fell, and he looked down at Naruto.

"Kakashi is an orphan of war, Iruka." Shizune pulled the other slipper off. She would not let hate spread in her house, not when she'd seen what horrifying powers the tailed beasts held. Those two creatures, the Racoon and the Fox, were on her couch at the moment. No, hate was definitely not allowed. "Try to envision him when he was just a boy, younger than Naruto is now. Try to see him as a child forced in to war, after his father. . ."

"Stop." Iruka hissed quietly. "What he's done is unforgivable."

"I forgive him." Shizune stepped up to the dirty, messy, school room shepherd, and knelt before him. "I forgive him because he didn't ask for this. At seven years old, Iruka, _seven_, he was forced to make decisions that would turn the stomach of seasoned veterans.

The brown eyes gazing at her were hard, like little stones. "He hurt my son. No matter how much empathy I may have for a tormented child, an adult can decide to ignore his past and do the right thing."

Shizune frowned, that was true.

Iruka continued, "Kakashi rejected Naruto, after promising to help him. He killed a team mate in the past. Can you promise me that he won't hurt Naruto some how. He has the power to leash the tailed beasts. Tsunade is convinced he'll try it, eventually. He looked down at Naruto and a wash of pain filled his eyes. "I don't want him to hurt any more. He deserves so much better than what he got from Kakashi."

Shizune looked down at the teen curled tightly against Iruka's side. Jarya had said that he's sent the blond home to sleep, yet here he was. He was clinging, even while unconscious, and tension was radiating from his body in waves. "I don't believe Kakashi would deliberately hurt him. Shizune said at length. "And I also believe that he's smart enough to not anger Naruto."

Iruka shifted a little, his face contorting to an emotion she couldn't place. Again he glanced at the mirror, then looked down at Naruto. "I won't let them near each other." The sweet, kind, gentle, loving teacher's voice was hard chipped like a block of ice. "Maybe one day you'll have children, then you'll understand."

"Is that why he's here now? She asked. "Because of your new parental bond?"

This time true anger passed over his features. From this distance she could see him clench his jaw. He looked at Naruto and stroked his head, then looked up. There was a sudden flash of blue in his eyes, bright and clear and on the out side of his irises. She'd seen the blue there when he had been going over the papers. She has seen shadows too, shadows like the Nara clan had. There were no shadows here, not now, but he was radiating energy all the same. "They trashed his apartment." His voice was raw and dark.

"Who? She asked, trying to fit this new information in to the buzzing hive's worth of the rest of the day.

"I don't know." He admitted. "But the apartment is unfit for rats now. They smashed every thing, and ripped the bedding apart. They even wrote on his walls." Iruka wrapped his arm tightly around Naruto's shoulders protectively. "It was anti Jinchiriki hate graffiti." He looked up at Shizune, eyes a mix of wet brown sorrow, and frosty blue rage. "I found him stumbling around in the street, crying. _Crying_." He shook his head, making the messy loose strands flop every where. "He didn't cry in the operating room. He was strong and proud and in charge. He was the future Hokage. The instant he saw me when I found him he just lost it."

The information quieted the hive, and settled like a heavy stone. She turned to look down at Naruto, who even in his sleep, was weeping very lightly. He was too thin and pale looking for her liking, and in her expert medical opinion she could tell he was sick even if he didn't have the infection any more. There was only so much one person could take all at once before they fell apart.

Iruka had hit that point once already. She looked back up at him. Naruto had his support system, but if that support system failed, as Iruka looked like he just might do at any moment, then every thing could come crashing down.

She still didn't fancy the thought of two tailed beasts suddenly coming to life in her house. Then and there she decided that, even though she had failed him once before, she would now support Iruka, no matter what.

Gently she asked, "When is the last time you had any thing to eat?"

He glanced over at a bag with raman markings on it. "I don't remember. I got that for Naruto just before I found him. Neither of us ate. I could. . ."

"No." She scooped the bag of cold raman up and stood. "I make supper every night for my self. Adding two extra portions won't be any trouble at all. So long as you are both living under my roof I'm going to feed you properly."

"I don't want to be any trouble..."

"I have plenty of food. Probably." She wondered how much the container of two demons could really consume, but didn't try to calculate it. "I can afford it, any way, if I have to buy more. Now just sit back and relax. . ."

"Actually, I need to go fetch some paper work." He looked up through his messy hair and gave her a pleading look. "Will you sit with him? I won't be gone long. I just, I can't leave him after what he's been through."

She smiled kindly down at him. Iruka. . . Sweet, sweet Iruka. His whole world was revolving around the blond in his lap. "Why not just make a clone?"

He glanced away, and looked in to the mirror while the color in his cheeks grayed a little.

"Iruka?"

"OK." He brought his hands together. "OK." He repeated again, nearly at a whisper. He made a few shaky movements with his fingers, then in a huff of mist his clone appeared before him.

Unlike Iruka the clone was clean kempt with hair straight as a pin, and neatly pulled back. Shizune found it odd, as clones almost always came out looking exactly like the casters, at the time of creation, unless you added an extra twist to make them look different. It didn't just look different, there was an energy radiating off of it that made it both the same, and yet some how totally different from it's creator.

Wordlessly Iruka stood.

The clone looked at him.

"I won't be long." He would not look at his clone.

The clone gave him a cold, flat smile. "I know you won't." It looked exactly as Iruka had when he'd been in the operating room.

Iruka stepped past them and up to the front door. He paused for a moment before glancing back at Naruto, then left.

Shizune watched as the clone carefully settled it's self in next to Naruto, soothing the teen who had half way woken up. "It's OK. I'm here." It carefully smoothed back the dirty blond hair, all while smiling that cold, cool smile.

This wasn't Iruka. A resent memory sprung up in Shizune's mind, vivid, and clear.

_"My brain feels like it's going to split in two. . . Have you . . . have you ever. . . looked in the mirror and. . ." He glanced away. "This is going to sound crazy."_

_"Tell me." She set the salve aside and pulled up a chair. "What about the mirror?"_

_"Some times when I look at my reflection I. . . Have you ever looked at your reflection and not recognized the face looking back? It's like some one is watching me. Like when I see my self it's not me."_

The mirror, he'd been gazing into it on and off the whole time they had been talking, just now. She had dismissed all of his fears, and his pleas, but now she remembered the time in the ally, only days ago, only a life time ago...

_He glared at the wall he was leaning against. "Fuka, is a real person, and I have to kill him before he kills any one else."_

"Are you Fuka?" She hadn't taken the identity as some thing this solid. Split personalities were not usually manifested bodily. It wasn't unheard of, but couriering in Iruka, the man who held the most secrets in all of Konoha, was frightening.

The clone's head snapped up and it _looked_ at her. There were small rings of blue on the insides of it's irises, but all of it' expression was cold. Still, softly, gently, it was caressing Naruto. Like some sort of shark that was just touching a lamprey fish.

Then it turned way from her and looked down at the teen. Fuka gave the blond a soft look, one that melted the shark back in to a dolphin, morphing from a cold hearted predator, in to a social one.

"It's OK. She knelt and gazed in to those cold eyes. "Split personality disorder is sometimes manifest through clones. I see at least one case a year. Not very many of them are this extreme, but it happens." She wasn't sure if her words were making any difference to the clone before her, but it soothed her own nerves.

It turned it's eyes back on to her. Dolphin or shark it was still a predator none the less.

She refused to back away. Not, at least, while it was cradling the most powerful force known to man kind in it's lap. "Are you Fuka?"

It continued to look at her, a small smile forming. "I am Fuka." It. . . he. . . said. "We have met before."

"I realize that now." She smiled and bowed neatly. She had been trained to treat each personality as an individual, and this was no less an individual than Iruka, as far as she could tell. Still, she also needed to address it for what it was, a manifestation of Iruka's rejection of the things that disturbed him. "Iruka is afraid of you."

"Why?" Fuka gave her a hallow dry smile. "I'm just a paper worker."

"You killed two akatsuki." She was going to have to have a talk with Tsunade about this. "And Iruka thinks you are trying to kill Kakashi."

The smile never faded, but he looked down at Naruto. "If I recall, Lady Shizune," He looked back up, "Iruka made it abundantly clear on what he thinks about Kakashi."

He had. It occurred to Shisune right then that Iruka would have blamed Kakashi for Naruto's death. The fracture for the duel personalities may have started a week ago, or months ago maybe, she'd never really know when, but the full on split probably manifested on that day. He'd gone to kill Kakashi right after he'd been told, after all. "You were the one in my office when Naruto died. You comforted me."

"I was looking for the ingredients to poison Kakashi with."

She nodded. "I know. But I don't believe Iruka came in there for that."

"What else would he have gone in there for?"

That was a disturbing question. Could it be possible Iruka had been planing on killing Kakashi before he'd heard the news? "I don't know." She stood, unsure what exactly to do. A part of her wanted to go straight to Tsunade, but she couldn't leave Naruto here alone with him.

She looked in to the clone's eyes. It looked so human.

Fuka leaned back and pierced her with his own liquid brown gaze. "What if I told you I still intended to kill him?"

She frowned and felt her stomach twist, just a little. "Would you?

He smiled coldly. Gently he stroked Naruto's hair. "Kakashi has no idea what he's got the power over. He's unstable, and selfish. What do you think he'd do now, if he was pushed any closer to insanity?"

She stood, and backed away just as horrified over that question, as any other. "Fuka. . ."

The door behind her opened, and Iruka stepped back in.

Fuka straightened up in his seat, and the smile vanished. "Well?"

Iruka stepped in all the way, followed closely by Inoichi.

"What's going on?" She demanded.

"I'm sorry, Lady Shizune." Iruka said softly, he would not look at her.

Inoichi reached for her. Grabbed her by the forehead. She felt her senses shatter.

Shizune blinked. She was kneeling in front of Iruka. Or was it Fuka? He was sitting on the couch with Naruto cradled in his arms.

"What were we talking about?" He asked. Blue rimmed his irises.

"Um..." She blinked and held her head. She had no idea what they had just been talking about. "I. . . I don't remember."

"You said some thing about some one trying to assassinate Kakashi." The paper worker replied.

She looked up at him, wondering who it was she was looking at.

"He has a lot of enemies, you know. Like the people who trashed Naruto's apartment."

Shizune rubbed her temple and looked around. She could have sworn there were more people in the house. But it was just her, and the man before her, and Naruto. Only three.

"Did some one try to kill Kakashi?" She asked. "Fuka?"

"Some one did. It hurt Iruka to think even one of Naruto's precious people could be in any danger, after he'd learned about Naruto's death." He looked down at Naruto with soft brown, blue rimmed eyes. "Iruka tried to kill him self. I had to work hard to save him. Not as hard as you did, though."

Her head hurt, but it was not over powering. Her mind took in the words and latched on. Truth. "Iruka, he tried to kill him self." That was true. Poor Iruka.

"Lets not tell Naruto about that."

She looked at the teen who had killed a sanin. Who was now host to two tailed monsters. "No, we won't tell him." She looked back up to Fuka's face.

He was smiling a cold, flat smile. "Are you OK?

"I'm tired, I think. Today has been a long day."

"Maybe you should forget about that supper. . ."

She held up her hand and stood. "Supper, no, I'll go make supper. You sit with Naruto." She stepped towards the kitchen, feeling just a touch dizzy, before she made it to the door jam and braced her self. She glanced back at the couch.

Just three people. A blond and Iruka. A blond. She rubbed her eyes. Naruto was blond.

Naruto had partly woken up and was moaning in his sleep. Fuka was soothing him, rocking him very gently, and whispering in his ear. Naruto settled down again and fell back to sleep.

"Is he OK?"

Fuka looked back and smiled sadly. "Nightmare." He rested his cheek on the top of Naruto's head. "It's OK. I'm here. No one can separate us now."

Shizune smiled and went to go fix supper.

* * *

Kakashi would die swiftly, he decided, he'd been loyal to Konoha for his whole life and deserved a swift death.

Iruka stepped numbly down the ally way, with Inoichi plodding along behind him like some sort of puppet. He glanced back at the tall blond and felt a stab of guilt wash straight through him over what he'd just allowed to happen, but Fuka had been right. Shizune was Tsunade's right hand assistant, and as such any suspicion she had would go right to the Hokage.

They had to kill Kakashi. The man was insane. Fuka was right, he had to die.

The blond gazed at him numbly, with out any light in his eyes. Anger and fear needled at Iruka's conscious as he met those two blue orbs. "I'm done with you." He sighed. "Go home."

Stiffly the interrogation specialist bowed, then vanished. Iruka was alone. With him self.

He felt hollowed out and with out any substance, like the chaff that came off of wheat. He stepped on, aimless, his mind going between the image of Kakashi laying dead at his feet, and Naruto in chains.

The Hokage would lock Naruto up, he was sure of it. The blond would kill him self throwing him self at his walls. If Tsunade knew that then she'd find some way to make him believe he was free, if only to trap him another way. Delusions and madness. Iruka knew how being trapped felt.

He pressed his hand to his forehead. There was an ache there.

He hopped Shizune was OK. She was so kind and strong. He hoped what had happened wouldn't hurt her.

If Kakashi remained alive he'd use Naruto. Kakashi was a weapon on autopilot now, targeting anything he thought might be a threat. No morality. No empathy. A monster like the Fox.

Iruka knew he'd be a target if the Copy-Cat ever discovered Fuka's existence. Maybe before, when Kakashi was still mostly human, it wouldn't be true. But now he was ANBU again.

ANBU. Iruka had read far to many files on what eventually became of ANBU. Killing him would be mercy at this point. Mercy for every one. Even Naruto.

Except now Naruto was more fragile than ever, and if the teen discovered Iruka's hands covered in Kakashi's blood the world would be rent in two. A very small part of him self cried out to find a different way, some how, and save Kakashi. There was no way he could see how, though, and that hollowed him out even more.

Iruka stumbled on some thing and landed rather solidly against a wall. He winced and ground his teeth as pain flared and died then shoved him self off and caught a glimpse of his reflection. _His_ reflection. Stringy, greasy hair hung limp from lack of a good washing and his eyes were brown stains against a web of blood red and dull white, set deep in to dark craters. He looked older, beaten and drained. Hurriedly he tried to pull his hair back in to a pony tail and tame it, before any one spotted him. The hair refused to cooperate. Wearily he let it go. It fell in gritty clumps around his haggared face.

"I'm a mess."

He still had dirt smeared over his cheek from when he had been sprawled, dying in that ally. That ally looked a lot like the ally he was in now.

He tucked his dirty hair back behind one ear and scrubbed at his cheeks. This wasn't that ally. He wasn't about to die. He had Naruto, and he had to do what he could to protect him.

"OK, OK." He sniffed ruefully and tucked some hair behind his ear. "Pull it together, Iruka, this day isn't over yet." He laughed dryly, a stressed raspy sound. "I'm talking to my self." He laughed again, because if he wasn't laughing he thought he just might start crying.

* * *

The teacher was hunched over, keeping to the edges of the streets, and refusing to make eye contact with any one. Oblivious to the world around him Iruka was unaware of the shadows mingling with his.

Shikamaru tested and toyed with the darkness cast off from his former teacher, and felt out the man's chakra. He could read the man in every movement, every shady twitch. While strung out and numb from exhaustion there was something predatory bubbling up from with in the teacher.

He was a ninja, and not just that, but a trainer of ninja. More over he was a paper work ninja. He had read every report written for the last five years at the very least. He knew more way to kill a man than the Hokage her self knew.

Shikamaru didn't have to ponder at all who the man's target was, and it didn't interest him in the least as to how Iruka accomplished his goal, but carrying out the act now would inevitably unravel things for the teacher. He was still protecting Naruto, and the class idiot was leaning on that.

Shikamaru scowled. Naruto didn't have the brains to do what was needed, he didn't have the emotional stability either. All the power in the world was in his grasp, but the fool was never going to use it for any thing other than chasing happiness.

For a moment Shikamaru lost focus on his shadows and they snapped tight. Iruka tripped and slammed hard in to a wall. Shikamaru leaped up out of sight and hid. From below him he could hear Iruka mumbling to him self.

Then the teacher laughed a raspy, wheezing laugh and moved on.

Shikamaru slid back down and watched the man go. Iruka had the ability to harness that power too, if he had the gumption to try, but he wouldn't and Shikamaru knew it. Iruka was obsessed with protecting Naruto's happiness, and at the same time driven to kill Kakashi. They were as opposing in nature as the day time was to the darkness. It left Iruka paralyzed, for the time being, as he could neither protect his idiot charge, or kill his intended target.

Shikamaru grinned. It bought him time. Time to find away to get the power Naruto held. A deep, driving hunger for that power rolled through him. Insatiable, uncrushable, a dark shadow that refused to take light.

He slid back in to the darkness. He needed to plan his moves very carefully, then the blond would be his own prey.

* * *

For a moment she wondered if she'd gone and eaten a brick of sawdust. Sakura felt all over her mouth with her tongue and found every part was dry like sun baked sandstone. Unsettled she cracked one eye open to see where she might be, because the last time she'd been this thirsty she'd been captured and tortured for a few days. She wasn't in her room, and she wasn't lying on the ground in a camp, so she couldn't have been on a mission, probably. She also noticed that she wasn't bound, which was a good sign, but didn't immediately clue her in to where she was.

She sat up, licked sticky teeth, and glanced around. The room looked awfully familiar.

She'd been dreaming, she knew that much, about Shikamaru of all people, who had looked absolutely ghoulish. Maybe, she reasoned, she had been trying to dream of Sai, but her mind had missed a step because she had been so tired from...

From what?

"I need water." Dehydration would rob a mind of clarity. She hadn't spent the last three years in medical training to forget that.

She stood, swayed a little, and turned to the sink. The sink she hadn't seen yet, but still knew where it was. "Huh." She scrubbed her hand over one eye and took a step forward, only to trip over some thing dark and heavy. She threw her self forward and landed in an awkward crouch on the other side of her new boots.

Her boots with toes, taken from Orochimaru's lab. All at once the last week's worth of memories hit her and she dropped down to a sit. There was to much to process all at once, but one memory did pop up that took precedence over the others, and that was the files she had taken from the computer network. She slid one hand in to her vest and felt the small data device still there.

Her mouth was still dry like she'd eaten a block of sawdust. And, she noted, she was in a staff room at the hospital. She got to her feet, made it to the sink, and downed as much water as she could. It was sweet, cold, and had an after bite of chlorine. It tasted like home.

After a moment her insides were refreshed, but bent over and drinking from the faucet – not some thing she would have been proud to admit to doing when she could see a stack of cups literally and inch from her nose the whole time – she could smell her very unrefreshed body crying out for it's own water. Water in the form of a shower.

She straightened, wiped her mouth dry with the back of her hand, and glared at the mess in the mirror before her. Her pink hair was almost black from filth, and her new uniform was little better. Besides that Naruto's blood was all over her.

She turned away from the mirror in disgust, then scooped up the new boots. At least she didn't have blood on her toes. She was as flexible as any Konochi, but scraping blood out from under toe nails was

an exercise in patience to say the least.

She left the room and stepped cautiously out into the hall, mindful of any one who might see her in this sorry state, and spotted Asuma entering a room not far away.

The same room Shikamaru had gone into in her supposed dream. Curiosity and trepidation met and her shower was shove to the side. Quietly she padded up to the door and peered inside.

Asuma was there standing over a bed, his face was a dark cast of worry and tightly held anger. Before the teacher was Choji, pale, and breathing with the help of a mask. Her years of training overtook her surprise, and she looked at the monitoring equipment. His heart rate was irregular, his oxygen numbers were too low, and his blood pressure was almost non-existant.

Forgetting her self Sakura set the boots down and stepped in to the room. "Asuma sensei?"

The man turned, and startled. "Who...?"

"It's Sakura." She brushed her hair back out of her eyes and smiled. "I know, I'm a mess."

Asuma gaped at her, mouth open, eyes wide. "I was told you were dead."

_Oh, right. _ Sakura sighed. "No, but please don't tell any one I was here."

He nodded, though was still shocked looking. She ignored that and picked Choji's chart up. A quick scan of the notes told her that the boy had been attacked, his abdomen had been shredded, and that some time the night before his heart had some how become damaged. The reason hypothesized was a blood clot.

_Shikamaru_. She frowned and set the chart down. "What happened?"

Asuma slowly sat down, motioned towards Choji, and made a sort of hollow sound, before rubbing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "A lot." He looked back up. "What happened to you and your team?"

Sakura smiled sadly. "A lot."

Asuma didn't quite smile at that, but nodded. "Do you want to...?"

What ever Asuma was going to say was lost to Sakura. In the corner of her vision there was a sudden movement of long blond hair and grasping hands, all of it sailing right for her. She dove to get away as training kicked in, but the blond was to fast for her. Bodies collided and her attacker tackled her and sent them both sprawling to the floor.

"SAKURA!" Ino cried. Her arms squeezed in a crushing hug.

"Ino?" Sakura shifted under her fellow ninja's weight, and returned the hug.

"They told me you were dead!" The blond started to weep and laugh at the same time. "And after all that's happened... I just couldn't..."

Sakura patted Ino's back, and then glanced up at Choji's monitors. Every thing still looked all right, the commotion hadn't affected him. "Ino." Sakura winced as her chest was crushed. "My boobs..." She whispered.

"S-sorry!" Ino sat back on the floor, and pulled Sakura up with her. "I just didn't expect to ever see you again!" She wiped tears from her eyes.

"Ino?" Asuma stood and loomed over them both, his eyes dancing over them with worry. "Why are you in that vest?"

Sakura turned and looked her friendly attacker over. An old style of armor was now around the blond. It was the sort of armor Tsunade stubbornly kept for an 'emergency'. "Did some body die?"

The look Sakura got was one of disbelief. "Naruto..." Asuma started.

"No, Tsunade told us you were alive, but the village thinks you are dead, you and Naruto that is. The Hokage is sending me on a mission!" Ino leaned forward to whisper. "I'm going as the captain and it's to Sand, but I just had to come say good by first because it's an A ranked mission and I wanted to let Choji know that I care and I can't tell you any of this but I don't care because I know you wont tell any one!"

Sakura digested that slowly. "Ah." To Sand... To Garra. It made sense, and Sakura nodded. "I see." Through every thing that had happened, Sakura noted, Tsunade was still wresting tight control. The pink haired konochi wasn't inetierly sure how she felt about the Hokage, but it eased her mind to know her mentor was taking measures to contact the original container of the Raccoon. "That's good." She said. "Garra needs to know."

"Know what?" Asuma asked.

Sakura snapped her jaw shut and glanced at Ino. The blond looked desperately back at her. "It's complicated..."

* * *

It was useless. As hard as Iruka tried he couldn't get his hair to go back in to place. His cloths didn't seem to fit right either. They were a mess he couldn't straighten. He gazed in to the reflection cast from a closed shop window mournfully, before turning away.

He felt utterly alone and realized he _missed_ Fuka. A little part of him was wishing to curl back up in the back of Fuka's mind, to hide away from all of this, and pretend none of it was real. But the thought of being shut away from Naruto seemed even worse. But the more he was around Naruto the higher a chance was the blond would learn of his plans to kill Kakashi.

A nightmare.

As he mused on the paradox a girl's voice split the air. "Iruka Sensei?" Foot steps thundered towards him.

As a ninja he had the skills needed to doge. As a broken human he didn't have the will. He twisted, braced him self, and was plowed in to by two students. The force sent all three of them back into a brick wall, and the wind was knocked from Iruka's lungs.

Konahamaru and Mogi were plastered to him, one on each side, and both babbling at once.

"Iruka, we thought you were dead!" Konahamaru all but shouted.

"Iruka sensei!" Mogi buried her head in his rib cage. "We heard horrible things about you!"

"Is it true that Naruto is dead? I thought I saw clones! But people are saying it was a trick of some sort from the Hokage! Is it true?" Konahamaru grabbed a fist full of Iruka's shirt. "Tell me he's OK!"

"Is Sakura gone too?" Mogi asked, she gave him a stiff look, but tears were forming in the corners of her eye.

"Yes, _NO_... Off!" Iruka shoved them back gently and stood. "I'm OK." He knew it was a lie, and by the way the two looked at him when he said it, they knew it too. "I've been better." He admitted.

"Oh Sensei!" Mogi threw her arms around him again. "It's true, isn't it? Naruto died!"

_Yes, technically. _ He sighed, set a hand on her head, and looked down at Konahamaru. "What's happened is classified. I can't talk about it."

Konahamaru looked away, tears forming in his own eyes. He scowled. "Udon is missing."

At that Iruka's mind pulled a little from it's dogged attention to his own problems and finally latched on to some thing that wasn't related some how to Team Seven. "He is? For how long?" The drippy nosed boy had never been strong, and there were precious few people dedicated to looking out for him. If he wasn't with his team he was mostly alone.

"Not long, but we can't find him any where!" Konahamaru looked up, tears still sitting in the corners of his eyes. "We snuck in to the file room, and he got a really complicated exploding lock unlocked, and we looked for a file on you because we thought you were dead!"

It took a moment for Iruka to sort all of that out, but when he did he scowled down at the ground. No one, not even him self, other than the elders, could open _that_ lock. "He opened it? The one in the far back?"

Mogi nodded against his stomach. She looked up, crying freely. "He jumped after that."

"Jumped?" His clan had teliportation powers, he knew, but at that age he could have gone any where. But, probably not that far. He patted Mogi on the back. "Has he been missing for more than twenty four hours?"

"No." Konahamaru said sullenly.

Iruka looked up and forced his face to become softer. "I'm sure he's just hiding." If the elders ever found out he'd never be found. Iruka felt pressed to locate the child. His only real protection had been his association with the Fifth through Konahamaru, but now that the Fifth was dead he had no one to run to for help. Iruka pulled Mogi off of him and forced a smile.

He could tell it was thin and dry. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

She frowned deeply and backed away. "But won't he get in trouble?"

Iruka set his hands on her shoulders. "I'll talk to the Hokage, OK?" From the corner of his eye he spotted some thing small walking down the street not far away. Small and four legged.

"You don't think he'd run away form the village, do you?" Konahamaru asked.

Iruka was positive Udon didn't have the spine to do more than follow orders. He was smart enough to know he'd never survive alone out side of the walls. "No. I know he wouldn't leave the village."

The little creature stopped to sniff at some thing, then moved on. _Pakun_. Iruka let his student go. "I'll be teaching again soon. I don't know when, but I will be back, OK?"

Mogi nodded. "OK."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to some one. Run along."

With sad, long faces, the two turned away and left. Mogi was still in tears.

Iruka watched them go for only a moment before focusing on Kakashi's favorite summon.

* * *

Shikamaru reached out with his shadows, grabbed hundreds of little particles from the ground near the side walk, and coated his shadows in them, giving them a thin but persistent armor. He lifted his hand, and an even larger hand, made of said shadows and dirt, lifted with it. He wiggled fingers, looked the creation over, and felt satisfied the whole thing would hold together. Then with some effort he reached out for the door knob to his front door.

He was exhausted, and could feel the strain of the day eating at his reserves. He knew, deep down, that he should have more energy that he did. Energy and power. With more power he wouldn't need to use dirt to solidify his shadows.

It was surprisingly difficult to actually grab and turn the door knob considering how slick dry earth could be, and it took a lot of energy out of him, but at last he managed, and the door swung free on silent hinges.

In side the house his mother startled at the sight of the huge dirt encrusted hand looming before her.

"It's all right!" Shikamaru called. He pulled the hand back and collapsed it letting the dirt fall to the flower beds. "I learned a new trick or two." He let a practiced smile cover his face.

"Oh." She pressed a thin hand to her chest. "Shika-darling." She smiled a little. "Don't startle me like that."

He stepped in to the house and closed the door behind him the normal way. It was a lot less bothersome.

Suddenly his mother's arms were around him, and she pressed her cheek into his ear. "Oh honey, I heard what happened. I am so sorry. Should I send food? I could make those rice balls I know Choji likes."

It took a moment for him to figure out what she was gushing on about. "He's not awake right now." He replied slowly. "Some thing happened to his heart."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." She let go and turned him around and looked down at him with deep sympathy. "You must be so tired. Why don't you go lay down and I'll bring you some thing to eat?" She stroked his hair down. "You look so tired."

He held still under the fussing. "I want to show you some thing first. Can I show you some thing?"

She nodded. "OK."

He took her hand in his and pulled her in to the kitchen. "I need some thing fine, like rice flour or some thing..." He looked around, saw a bag of flour, and picked it up. "Like this. This is perfect. May I open it?"

She nodded.

Carefully Shikamaru tore the bag open and held his hand over it. Gently and slowly he pressed his shadows deep in to the white powder, then pulled it out slowly in strands like dry noodles.

"Oh!" His mother blinked wide eyed. "Oh Shika-darling. When did you learn how to do this?"

Shikamaru looked up and shrugged lazily. "Some dusty scrolls gave me some ideas, I just sort of played with things until I figured it out." He had almost all of the flour was out of the bag, and started to pull and twist the shadows. He bit his lip as the task threatened to undo its self and send the powder every where. Finally, however, he managed to make a crude stag figure, and lead it to the table top. "Can other shadow users do this? Do they make shapes and things?"

She didn't answer.

Shikkamaru chanced a look back and saw her standing with her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. "Sweety." She said quietly. "No. No the shadows are weapons." She took a small step forward and stroked the roughly shaped animal. "This is beautiful, like art. Is it hard for you to do?"

It was. The strain was more than he'd have ever used for any sort of training. "Yeah. It's a total bother." Bitting his lip again, Shikamaru returned the flour to it's bag, then dropped down into a kitchen chair.

Once more her arms found their way around him. "Don't show your father." She whispered in to his ear. "He'll think it's a waste of time."

"OK."

"It'll be our secret."

He smiled a little. For real this time. "OK." A secret. He was staring to like seecrets.

She squeezed a little harder. "Did you do this because of Choji?"

_Choji_. There was a chill where he knew anger or hurt should be. Not a void, but a chill. He pulled away. "What happened to him..." He felt the shadows under the table become sharp and cold. "Can we have another secret?"

"You can tell me any thing." She sat down in another chair and reached out for his hands.

"I fell like I need to do some thing... Some thing dark." He took her hands. "I feel like I need more power, like I need to be stronger."

She smiled sadly. "You are a shadow user, you need to embrace the dark. Your father and I have waited for the day that you would be motivated to try and push your self. Keep practicing. That's what you need to do." She frowned a little. "Why do you want it to be a secret?"

He looked at the bag of flour. "Because I think I can kill any one I want with this trick. And I think I want to kill a lot of people. I want to kill them and become powerful."

Again she was silent. When he looked back at her her head was bowed. "Mother?"

"Choji is such a sweet boy." She said, distantly. "You must be very angry right now. You want to protect him, I know."

He frowned. "That's not...

She looked up with a smile and interrupted him. "When he gets better every thing will be better. And you will feel better." She let him go and stood. "Go rest. I will make you some thing to eat."

He got up, fingered the sharp paper edge of the flour bag, then nodded. "Yes mother." It drew a little blood, but with his shadows he managed to pull it back just enough to keep the wound sealed.

It was a lot of work, but he'd practice. As he passed her he grabbed a small knife and hid it in his pocket. He'd perfect his shadows. He'd live in them.

And with them he'd blot out the sun.

* * *

Sakura watched as Ino closed the door to Choji's room quietly. "Come on, to the staff room." Sakura ducked in to the room where she had woken up, Ino close on her heals. She shut the door, and pressed a simple sound barrier in to the wooden frame. "OK, we can talk."

"Who first?" Ino asked. She dropped to the bed and folded her hands in her lap. "So much has happened."

"I know."

"People aren't safe here any more."

"I know." Sakura turned and leaned back against the door. "Have you seen Kakashi Sensei?"

The blond shook her head. "Have you seen Shikamaru?"

"Yep." Sakura nodded and debated on telling her friend what she had seen. There was some thing wrong with the dark haired boy, she could feel it. "At first I thought I was dreaming, but I know I saw him last night. He snuck in to Choji's room." Sakura looked up at the ceiling, remembering.

_A shadow filled with odd chakra flickered from some where in the distance. All of the horror from the past few days rushed through her at once and her eyes snapped back open. For a moment she glanced Shikamaru slinking through the halls. Then he was peering in to a patient's room with a dark cold look on his face. The aura he was sending out was so unlike his normal aura that it made her stomach churn._

"I. . . I think he did some thing to Choji, Ino."

Ino looked up, her face taking on a cool, hardened expression. "What do you mean?"

"There was some thing off about him, some thing really wrong. I felt some thing dangerous coming from him." She looked back at her friend and worried her lower lip. "It was horrible."

Ino stared at her for a moment before looking down at her hands. "I know he's angry. He'll be blaming him self. I never saw him so angry after what happened." She sighed and closed her eyes.

"What happened?" Sakura shoved off the door and dropped in to a small plastic chair. It was not comfortable.

"I don't know the whole story, but Iruka sensei Killed Akamaru, then nearly killed Choji. He almost killed Kakashi. He then ran off and tried to commit suicide."

"What? Iruka tried to kill Kakashi Sensei?" For a long moment the words hung about Sakura, refusing to sink in and make sense. "_Iruka_?"

Ino nodded dully. She looked up and chewed her lip. "Some people think he snapped when he learned that Naruto was dead. He blamed Kakashi, I think. Akamaru stopped him, then was killed." She stared with out seeing. Lost in the memories. "I can't believe Iruka would do that."

"He was there when we..." Sakura bit that sentence right off and swallowed it. "How much do you know about Naruto?"

"Only that he's alive and back." Ino replied.

"Good. Never mind the details for now, OK? I'll fill you in after I've talked to him."

The blond nodded again.

"You said you have a mission?" Sakura shifted in the chair.

Ino smiled a little and looked down with a shake of her head. "I have my own team. I'm captain." She looked up, her eyes still a little distant. "Kiba and Udon are my team mates. I know that sounds crazy, but. . ."

"I'm starting to think nothing can be crazy any more." Sakura waved her hand. "After what happened..."

"Yeah." Ino stood. "Sakura, will you please look after my team while I'm gone?" She looked down and picked at a stray thread on her vest. "Look after Shikamaru? I haven't seen him since that incident, I've been with Kiba. He's so hurt right now after he lost Akakmaru. Shikamaru has got to be feeling about the same, only we still have Choji."

Sakura stood and frowned. "You did hear me when I said I think he did some thing to Choji, didn't you?"

Ino nodded and looked up, tears in her eyes. "That's why I want you to look into it. The world feels like it's coming apart." She looked as thoguht she might cry, but took a slow breath. "I thought we could trust Iruka. I want to trust Shikamaru, but he's never been this angry. Choji is his life. Naruto was Iruka's."

"Is Irukas." Sakura corrected. "But I understand." She couldn't shake the memory of the dark feeling, and it wasn't exactly the same. Iruka struck out at what he thought was the cause. Shikamaru may have struck out at what was the end result. It didn't quite add up. "Iruka really tried to kill Kakashi?"

"Yes."

Sakura rubbed at her temple, feeling a new headache come on. "I have to find him."

"Who, Iruka?"

Sakura shook her head 'no'. "Kakashi."

"He's OK, Akamaru sacrificed him self to save your teacher. That's how all of this drama started."

No, all of the drama started when they'd gone to save Garra and the Raccoon had gotten in to Naruto. Sakura held her piece on that. She wondered if Garra was having this much trouble with out his tailed beast, as they were with it. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"You are going to see Garrra right?"

She nodded.

"Tell him..." She paused to think. Her message needed to be cryptic to every one but the former jinchuriki. "Tell him Naruto is still his friend, OK? Tell him that we want to talk to him, face to face. Tell him his unintentional gift isn't causing us any problems, at least not at the moment."

"His gift?"

Sakura nodded and smiled a little. "I can't tell you any more than that."

"OK." Ino reached out and drew Sakura close. "I have to get going n..." She pulled back and for the firsrst time looked Sakura up and down. "Is that blood?"

Sakura looked down at her body. "Yeah."

"And a Sound Village uniform?"

"Yes."

"I want to know every thing when I get back!"

She looked up and smiled. "I'll tell you every thing I can, I promise!"

Ino hugged her again, then walked up to the door. As she pulled down the sound barrier she looked back. "Be safe, OK? Keep a low profile, you are still supposed to be dead."

"OK." Sakura nodded. "You to."

The blond slipped out. Silence filled the room and Sakura sat down on the bed again. The village she had known before going to Sand was gone, to hell maybe, and it was dragging every one down after it.

* * *

Two figures stood in the deep shadows of the older buildings and watched as the disheveled paper worker hurried to catch up with Pakune.

"What is he doing?" The elder woman hissed. "He looks awful."

Danzo, eye narrowing, strode forward with out a sound. In moments he was next to the paper worker ninja, grabbing the thiner man by the wrist. "Where is Hatake's body?"

Umino stammered. "I - I need time. Naruto. . . "

"Should be subdued by now." Danzo let the wrist go with a flick. "You have him under control, do you not?"

"No!" He gleared, then looked away. "He's to strong to just fence in. If I were to kill Kakashi now Naruto would rip this whole city apart. I need more time."

Danzo frowned.

From the shadows the elder woman scowled as well. _We don't have time_. She bristled.

"If you can not kill Hatake with in the next week I will take matters in to my own hands."

"That's not enough time!" He glared, blue flashing in the center's of his eyes.

"You are not Fuka."

"No, I am Iruka, and I need time. I know Naruto better than any one else and I know that if the situation with the Copy cat Ninja isn't dealt with delicately then all hell will brake loose. If you want to protect this village you will let me do this my way."

The elder woman stepped back and grabbed the brick work. _Would he dare give us commands? A lowly paper worker?_

"You will bring Naruto to us. . ."

"When it's time." Iruka hissed. With that said he stalked off.

Danzo returned to the shadows.

"You promised us the Copy Cat would be eliminated." The elder woman pointed a bonny finger in Iruka's direction. "How did that happen? We'll loose every thing if you can't get this to work. We need the container before we loose all of the power it contains. If this set back costs us every thing I'll have your head mounted on my wall as a trophy!"

Danzo gave her a hollow look. "This is not a set back. It is merely an indication that I need to push Hatake in to making the first move."

She scowled. "How?"

"Agent Skunk, would you please come here?"

In a puff of mist a lone woman appeared, on her face was the mask of a Skunk. "Yes my lord?" She bowed a little. "I'm here for you, as your tool, my methods are few, but oh so very cool. Oh fool, you fool!"

The elder glowered. "You dare call us fools?"

Danzo ignored the rhyme. "You have your orders. Now is the time to act them out."

She bowed again. "Yes, my lord."

* * *

Ino stepped up to her house and saw Kiba and Udon already there, sitting on her steps. She smiled a little, then looked back over her shoulder.

Sakura's concern over Shikamaru was still running through her mind. She wanted to abandon the moment and go racing to find him. She wanted her team, her world, and every thing else to be right again.

"Hey, you ready yet?" Kiba asked.

She turned back and shook her head. "I need to get some things."

He frowned and sat up a little. "You all right?"

She looked any where but at his eyes. She caught Udon gazing at her, worry on his face. "I'm OK."

Kiba stood and tromped down the steps. "You are my commander, right now, you know. If you are having trouble..."

"No." She took a breath and looked in to his eyes. "I'm just worried about my team."

"Um." Udon lifted a thin hand. "We are your team?"

"Sorry." She shrugged limply. "My _other_ team."

"Choji is in good hands." Kiba said, his voice a little softer.

"It's not that. I just got word that Shikamaru is acting strange."

Kiba worked his jaw a little, then glanced down. "We don't have time to. . ."

"I know." She cut him off. "If you are worried I won't do my job don't. My missions come first."

He looked up and nodded. "Good. Good to hear."

"I won't let you down."

"I know you won't." He plastered a big, flat toothed, smile at her. All human. No longer any trace of his animal brother.

She looked away. "I'll go get ready." She stepped around him and started to ascend the stairs.

"Ino."

She froze and swallowed stiffly. Her name sounded strange spoken in his voice. Suddenly she realized she didn't want him to use it. Not now, not like that. "Yes? _Sir_?"

"Your team is going to be OK."

She looked down at her feet. She wanted to argue. She wanted to believe him.

"Asuma is here. He'll take care of every one while you are gone."

She wanted her friends her with her.

"Alright?"

She nodded, then finished the steps and entered the house.

She wanted her father.

* * *

Dark, cold, and silent he sat alone. He sat, eyes closed, hands spread out before him. Blue white split the dark as energy bounced from finger tip to finger tip. They were small, but the first sparks of lightning were coming back. Foot steps approached and Kakashi glanced up with his exposed eye. A thin woman with a skunk mask stood before him.

In one hand she held a blade, poised for his heart. "You can't win a fight against me, I have power, I'm more strong than three, your blood would come in a shower. Oh fool, you fool!"

He closed his eye again. "You aren't a regular ANBU agent. Are you from Root?"

"We can help you heal faster. We know what you did to our sister, but we forgive you. Come with me."

"Go to hell." He brought more sparks up and over his finger tips.

She laughed lightly. "I was already there. And take it from me, Kakashi, it's not some place you want to be, but you seem pretty eager to go there your self."

He let his eye slide back open.

"Good luck. You'll need it." She stepped back in to the shadows, but her voice floated out over him. "So will your students. Naruto. . ." She paused. "He's going to need a lot of that now, don't you think? Well, maybe we can help him."

Mist erupted in the inky darkness.

Kakashi lowered his hands, but did not get up. He closed his eye again and welcomed the cold dark.

* * *

Sakura scooped up her now clean cloths and, even though she was still dripping wet from her shower, started to pull them on. Now that she was clean her next objective was to eat, then she needed to find what was left of her team and get this whole mess sorted out.

She needed to know, for her self, that Kakashi was OK. She'd managed to pull him from the darkness once this month, and she didn't fancy having to do it again. They weren't even on a mission at the moment. She could forgive Iruka, she'd seen him comfort Naruto, and she knew from first hand experience what grief could do to a man. They attacked what they knew to be the source of their problems.

She took a deep, self pitying breath, and blew her wet bangs from her eyes. Men. She'd give almost any thing to go on an all female mission, just once.

After she found her team.

Then, together ,they needed to find and confront Shikamaru. His dark energy was an echo in her mind. Dark like the deepest night. Blood clot. She couldn't get past her own intuition that it was not a blood clot that had nearly killed the tubby teen.

Choji couldn't possibly be the the source of his problems. Then again Choji wasn't a skilled fighter, and shrunk back from confrontation. It was possible Shikamaru blamed him for not being strong enough to defend him self, but over all it still didn't explain why the dark haired shadow user would attack him. The mystery was so complex, and do strange, that it encompassed her. There had to be some thing she was missing.

She pulled her new boots on, then grabbed a bag of older, larger cloths and started to put them on over her uniform. Being dead to the world gave her an advantage she hadn't anticipated. With no one looking for her no one would be planning to stop her from spying on them.

She'd find that missing information, team or no, and take it to Tsunade. Above all else she needed to talk to her, and get the air cleared between them. Not, she supposed, as a simple subordinate, not any more. She'd been through to much now, seen to much betrayal from the blond leader, to feel any lingering inferiority now.

Dressed now as a cleaning lady she slipped out of the room and strode down the hall. And when all was said and done she had her trophy to play with. She fingered the data device in her pocket, and smiled a little. All of Orochimaru's secrets were now firmly gripped in the palm of her hand. Really, this made her the most dangerous woman in all of Fire country. Now, she had leverage.

* * *

Danzo peered out over the city from atop the Hokage's monument. Down below the people were going about their lives at the day rolled heavy and started to turn to red gold.

Next to him the elder woman scowled. "How long do we. . . "

Mist erupted. A dark figure bowed. "My lord, we just got news on Sasuke Uchiha. We have his aproximate location and have deemed him no longer a threat to the city."

"Kill him." Danzo said flatly.

"Yes my lord." The figure vanished.

The elder lady snorted. "One more problem you haven't resolved yet."

"These things take time." He replied coldly.

Another figure apeared, lithe and masked. Skunk bowed.

"Report." Danzo snapped.

"I have done as you asked. The Copy Cat ninja has been baited." She looked up. "Are you still planning on killing him?"

"He must be eliminated as a threat." The elder woman answered. "The sooner the better."

Skunk bowed again. "Then may I make a suggestion?"

"Please." Danzo looked down, his frown not as deep.

"Should we not be baiting Naruto as well? If his resistance is the problem then can we not sever his tight bonds?"

"How would we do that?" The woman asked.

Skunk stood fully. "Is Fuka not our brother now? Can we not have him tell Naruto the truth about Fox. Our Fox?"

"Truth and lies." Danzo frowned. "Are never as clear as they should be with Fox."

"Even in ROOT." Skunk turned and looked out over the city. She shifted her mask. "By day you sleep, by night you dream, the word is deep, and not as it would seem. Oh Fools, you fools." She looked back. "My orders?"

"Return to base and wait."

She bowed. "Yes my lord." She too vanished.

Danzo returned his lone eyed gaze to the city. The sun sank low. His shadow dipped and crossed the streets, and reached far, almost to the other end of Konoha.

* * *

Well, I hope you liked it. Please leave me a review, let me know if you see any glaring errors. And thanks again for the kind words and the prodding. Seems I need Prodding these days! :D


	34. Angry Spirits

Hi all, super long time! I know, I know. Why the long wait? Let em tell you!

I've started and all girl gaming group that does Lets Play videos! We mainly play Minecraft, but I also post a non-minecraft game plays every Friday. I've been very, very busy with this project.

If at all physically possible we post a video every Monday. Now you know me by now, and you know how hard it is for me to keep a schedule. This project has consumed me, and my two friends, and grown, and I love it! It just hasn't left much time for writing.

I'll try to make the time, though, because I love Naruto too!

If you'd like to check our videos out go to youtube and look for the "_Diamond Denizens" _that's the name of our channel. Our minecraft video sires is called "_Crafty Girls_". We've gained over 150 subscribers in just 3 months, and we get new subscribers every day.

Having said that, and explained my absence this time, I now direct you onward to the next chapter...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the OCs in this story are not really OCs. They are characters from another show. BUT I'm not marking this as a crossover, because the characters them selves are trying to blend in. this will become important to the plot, but like way, way down the line. Many many chapters from now.

Still, let me know if you can figure out who these guys are. I think it's way, way obvious in the chapter, but many of you may not know the show I'm borrowing these guys from. (And that makes me feel old!)

Any way,on with the show!

YAYAYAYAYAYA!

* * *

**Chapter 26: Angry Spirits**

* * *

"It's getting dark fellas." Shou said, leaning against the window sill. "Yori should be back by now." His mind drifted back to when they had all arrived in the city not more than a full week ago, hot on the trail of some thing big, incorporeal and malevolent. The city was so unlike home, and the thing they had been tracking so clever, and dangerous that they had agreed to split up to make them selves less obvious as a team. They had ditched their normal cloths and donned the more traditional local ninja garb as soon as they had been able to find some. Still, they had all kept their two way radios with the hopes that if one of them found any information on their target they could contact each other.

Yori had gotten a message to them that he'd meet them at the tower, and then vanished. They assembled here, on the tower's steps after that call, and waited. Waited for hours. Then all of the available ninja had been called, and sent out, leaving them here in a mostly defenseless city, on the steps of HQ, looking for all the world like they were lost. One of the head ninja had spotted them and ordered them to take the desk guard position while the other ninja were away.

Shou, Osamu and Kouta had assembled as much equipment and resources as they could find, from where ever it was available, and combined it all in to one big box to be sorted latter. Now just happened to be latter.

Kouta looked up from where he was sorting scrolls. "I'm sure he's fine." He pulled a scroll out of the large box, and looked it over carefully. "He's probably making friends, or getting pizza."

"They don't have pizza here in this city." Osamu fiddled with his glasses. "Besides, he said he was going to talk to the locals about local ghost legends. Maybe he has found some thing." He bent down and rummaged through the box at Kouta's feet. "Do we have every thing we need for our next experiments?"

"I don't know." Kouta looked up from his scroll. "You are the mad scientist here. You tell me. I don't even know what experiments you want to preform."

"Conclusive ones." Osamu replied flatly.

"As if there were any other kind." Kouta smirked and tossed the scroll back into the box.

Shou turned from the window and shook his head with a frown. "No Yori and no ghosts." He stepped up to the other two. "And besides that, guys, I don't think the Hokage wants us to preform any more experiments." After the encounter with the Hyuga man Shou had seen how displeased the blond woman had been with them, though she did seem eager to know how they had made the trap.

Kouta grinned and tossed his arm around Shou's shoulders. "Here, young man, you forget who your boss is."

"The most powerful woman in this country, capable of killing entire ranks of men, with only one hand?" He asked innocently.

Kouta gave him a sideways look. "I'm your boss, dummy."

"Well, yeah but _here_. . ."

Kouta lifted a hand to shush him, cutting him off. "In what dimension have we ever been to have I not been your boss?"

Shou frowned, recalling a few. "Well, there was that one with the golden slime ducks that. . ." again he was interrupted when the main doors were slammed open.

All three turned to look upon the man who had arrived. With the sun setting behind him the light darkened what was already dark skin, and even darker eyes. His arms were out stretched, holding the doors open, and his hair, short and black and curly, was a glowing eerie orange-red halo.

"Who...?" Kouta asked, his arm tensing protectively around Shou's neck.

"Yori!" Shou tugged free and ran up to the dark skinned man. "You made it!" He clapped a hand on his team mate's back. "Oh boy were we ever worried!"

"Hey guys." He stepped in to the room and let his arms sag. The door swung shut behind him with a heavy click. "Am I ever glad to see you fellas again!"

Osamu stepped up to him and gave a thin smile. "Where have you been? It's been almost three days."

Yori made his way over to the desk and sank down in to the chair, Shou following close like a puppy. "Oh, here and there." He rubbed his eyes with one hand.

Kouta frowned and perched on the desk, his eyes narrow, focused. "You haven't been 'here', so that just leaves the 'there'."

Yori glanced up with a small angry scowl.

Shou looked up, worry knotting his stomach at how subdued his friend was. "You OK?"

The darker team mate waved his concern of. "Fine."

Osamu stepped in, his worry written clearly over his face. He fidgeted for a moment before looking at Kouta.

"OK, care to tell Dr. K all about it?" Kouta leaned in closer and smiled. "We waited here for so long we ended up with a job."

Yori turned up to glare at him. "A job?" He stabbed Kouta in the chest with a finger. "I spent two nights in a cold cell with a crazy man. Not to mention I happen to be a minority here."

"Oh Yori!" Shou shook his head sadly. "We had no idea. We wanted to go looking for you but we were assigned duty right here at the tower! We are the desk guards for the main lobby for the Hokage her self! Isn't that amazing?" The frown vanished, replaced by an eager smile. "Us. Lowly Ghost '_enthusiasts_', guarding the most important woman in the city!"

"I'm sorry." Yori sighed. "I'm not mad at you guys. Just a little disappointed with my search." He looked up at Kouta. "And _your _search."

"Like Shou said, we got stuck here." Kouta folded his arms over his chest. "Besides, we all still have our 'two ways. You could have called us again."

"They took my gear." He retorted. "Who was I gonna' call with out my radio?"

"But you are OK, right?" Osamu asked, heading off the argument before it could heat up.

He shrugged a little. "It's just been a long couple of days."

"That it has." Shou agreed heartily. "You wouldn't believe the roller coaster of events we've witnessed here."

"Shou." Kouta lifted a hand, hushing him. "You still haven't told us where you were, buddy." he set a hand on Yori's shoulder. Worry reached into his eyes as well. "Start talking."

"I was at TnI." He admitted slowly.

"TnI?" Shou asked, puzzled. "Sounds like some sort of super market."

"Torture and investigation." Osamu said flatly. "Right?"

Yori nodded once, closing his eyes briefly.

"_What_?" Kouta jumped to knell in front of Yori. He reached up and grabbed both of the darker man's shoulders. "Tell me what they did to you! Tell me so I can take names and. . ."

"Nothing." He flashed a small reassuring smile. "I'm fine guys, really. I walked in to check out a lead. It's not like I was dragged in. There were some misunderstandings, be we sorted it all out. They let me go."

"Why on earth would you go in there?" Shou asked, sitting down on the desk.

"The people in this city are really tight lipped about things that spook them, especially when some one as, um..." he lifted his hands and looked at them. "... _Different looking_ as I am starts asking those questions."

"Oh, Yori." Shou gave him a sad, sympathetic frown. He'd have hugged the man but Kouta was still there, kneeling before him. "I should have stayed with you!"

"Never mind that." Yori waved off the sympathy. "I followed a lead about a crazy man who was being locked up for trapping a couple of folks in nets out side of the city. Thing is he was tryin' to catch some spooks out there. Not our spook, doesn't fit the description, but he was after something."

"Do you believe him?" Osamu asked.

Yori nodded. "Most of the people in the joint there are nuts, man, real crazies. But the same story kept coming up. Apparently the ghost of the Third Hokage haunts the woods just out side of the city. Some said they have gotten lost and he helps them find their way back to the road, others say he's barred other ghosts from hurting them."

Osamu 'hmmed' while Kouta drew back and stood. "Third Hokage huh?"

"That's amazing!" Shou grinned. "Do you think we could find him?"

"Possibly. It could just be an urban legend. Besides, we have no way of tracking any entity that we can not see, hear or feel. None of us are sensor types."

"Actually, Osamu, I have some thing." Shou dove for the box. He'd forgotten, but while he'd been trying not to fall asleep at the desk during his turn, he'd played with some of the junk he had collected. He rummaged through the box until he found what he'd made. "Here!" He lifted it up and twirled it around in his hands.

"It's a radio." Kouta said, eying it over keenly. "I highly doubt we'll get to hear the 'Socks out here, buddy."

"No, no look!" He opened up the back and held it out for the other three to see. "I placed chakra charged paper strips here under this semiconductor. If the paper detects any chakra it will energize and send a pulse through the semiconductor. From there it'll trigger the speaker to make a sound."

"Clever." Osamu reached for it. "Is this the only one?"

Shou handed it over eagerly. "No, I made two of them. I have red one besides this green one."

"What else did you learn?" Kouta asked Yori.

"Well, other than the fact that I happen to be the only colored guy in a hundred miles, and that almost every one thinks the Third is haunting the woods, not much. Every one believes those woods are haunted, but nothing is definite. Not a lot of the stories match up."

"It could be base superstition coupled with the residual misplaced fear from a warrior culture taught to suppress their feelings, thus finding an outlet for their anxiety in folklore and ghost stories." Osamu speculated. "Or it could be harmless pranks preformed by low level ninja in order to bolster their stealth and genjitsu. Or..." He paused and fiddled with the open radio.

"Or?" Kouta asked. "And don't you keep us waiting. The suspense is _killing_ me." He teased.

Osamu gave him a look. "Or we could be dealing with real entities as of yet fully explained, manifesting in the woods." He pushed his glasses up under his twisted blond hair.

Shou shivered with the excitement of what the last theory could mean. "Do you think we could really find the Third Hokage?"

"I should hope not. I have a hypothesis, however." Osamu fiddled with the radio. "May I alter this one?"

"Go for it." Shou said.

Osamu sat down cross legged near the box and started to dig through it with one hand, while still holding the opened up radio in the other. "Thank you."

"Your hypothesis?" Kouta asked a little impatiently.

"Right." He rummaged some more. "Every living creature in this world holds some degree of Chakra, be it large or small. According to my research. . ."

A nasal voice broke the sentence off. "Yori!" Shiori ran in and tossed her arms around the darker teammate, nearly knocking him over. "You're back!"

"Hey!" He hugged her with one hand. "Yeah, I'm back."

She let him go and stepped back to place a hand on her hip. "Did you find any thing out?" She asked eagerly.

"Not much." He smiled with a shrug. "OH, I did hear about a ghost dog." He scratched at the back of his neck. "Sounds silly, but some people were saying a dog got killed and now..."

"One DID get killed." Shou jumped up, eyes shimmering. "That ninja hound. Remember?"

"Hmm." Osamu stood and started to insert more items in to the radio. "That does fit my hypothesis."

"And that is?" Kouta asked, his patients wearing thin.

"When a person, or in this case an animal, dies, if the death is particularly violent, then residual chakra _could_ manifest into an independent entity."

"Like the tailed monsters! Oh boy!" Shou slammed his fist in to the palm of his hand. "So that means that every death of every ninja on the battle field could create one of these ghosts!"

"I doubt that." Osamu narrowed his eyes on the modified radio, deep in thought. "If that were the case then this world would be over run with ghosts in very short order. It's more plausible to assume that a very special set of circumstances must be met in order to create such a creature."

"Like what, Osamu?" Shiori asked.

"I don't know, but with this," He held up the even more modified radio, "I think we can narrow down some possibilities."

"What did you do to it?" Shou asked and inched closer like a child eager to see a new toy.

"I added a diode that will glow according to the chakra fed in to it. It will glow white for a human's chakra, and green for an animals'"

"That's not how they look. . ." Shiori started.

"I know, but the diode is old, and those were the only options I could give it. Besides, it will be more clear what is what if there is mist or fog. Ambiguity could be dangerous if my hypothesis proves to be sound."

"That's cool man, real cool." Yori leaned forward and grinned, looking interested for the first time.

"I say we go do some camping!" Shou declared, pumping his fist. Then he pulled back. "If you are up to it, Yori."

Every one turned to the man with dark, dark skin. "Well..."

"I'd rather we all went, as this presents an amazing opportunity to investigate what could be the answer to many of the Hokage's problems regarding the fox."

"But you'll go alone?" Kouta asked, his eyebrows lifting. "We aren't getting payed for freelance work like this you know. It's one thing to mess around when we are on the clock but..."

Osamu interrupted him with a stern look. "If my calculations are correct, Kouta, then what we could offer is a permanent way to seal off any being that threatens this city. It is my civic and scientific duity to go."

"Help me out here guys. I don't want to go out in the woods in the dark looking for spooks we have no information on other than crazy old man stories." He looked pleadingly at Shou. "Say some thing."

"Terpanning." He folded his arms and glanced over at Osamu.

Kouta scowled. "That is the exact _opposite_ of helping."

"Depends on who I'm looking out for." He smirked.

Kouta sighed, then forced an enormous grin to cover his face. He turned to Yori. "So, you going camping with the three of us? Spooky stories around the campfire. Marshmallows, and hot dogs, maybe keep Osamu in one whole chunk rather than a messy smear in the woods?"

The dark skin teammate grinned. "I wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world. But..." he looked around. "Who's going to keep a look out on the tower if we all go out there?"

First Kouta, then Osamu, then Shou turned and gave Shiori a sly look. Kouta stood and slid his hand around her shoulders. "We'll come right back if any thing happens. Cross my boy scout heart." He drew his finger lazily over the right side of his chest.

"You were never a boyscout!" She snapped. "And that's the wrong side any way."

"So I'm not a boy scout." He shrugged. "But I am your camp leader."

"I need sleep!" She glared, shoved his arm off, and stabbed her finger into his chest on the left side. "And I need a shower! My good looks don't just happen by them selves you know!"

"We won't be gone all night." He smiled a charming smile. "You can sleep _in _the shower when the next shift starts!"

"NO!"

Kouta turned and looked down at Osamu. "Any time with the convincing, buddy."

The blond man stood and fidgeted. "Um."

Shiori stepped up to Osamu and nearly pressed her chest in to his. "Tell me you aren't leaving me here alone! I can't guard the Hokage by my self! What if assassins try to get her? Oh Osamu! What'll I do if you aren't here to protect me? What could possibly be more important to you than my safety?"

The blond fiddled with his glasses, but did not look directly at her. "Ah, well, you see now that the Jinchiriki is back, and if my idea is true, then the daemon fox, see..." He cleared his throat. "That's enough anger to wipe out the whole city. And I don't know but if I do... I mean, it's possible. With our new seals, but only if I can confirm my hypothesis." He glanced any where but at her. "So, you see, we must, for science."

"For science?" She yelped.

Shou nodded. "Exactly. Just like he said."

Shiori turned and stabbed a finger at Yori. "Translate!"

"Hey, I stopped trying to understand him a long, long time ago." He shrugged.

"What he's trying to say is that we are going and if you don't do what we need you to do I'm docking your pay." Kouta said. "Right?" Ha asked, looking up at the blond.

"Not exactly."

"What Osamu is saying," Shou beamed, "Is that if he's right we can find ways to seal any chakra creature of any size with it's own chakra. See, it's like the seal is a non-Newtonian fluid and the chakra is force applied..."

Kouta patted him on the back. "That's enough. I want her to stay here awake, not brain dead."

"But. . ."

"S'OK, buddy." Kouta patted him again. "Just let it go."

"Right." he let his hands fall lax at his sides.

She looked them over, growled, then shooed Yori out of the chair. "I want _double_ over time for this, Dr. K!"

"What ever you say." He reached down and started loading up with things from the box. "Gear up guys, we got a ghost to catch!"

Shou dove in eagerly, glad to finally have some thing tangible to do. "Oh man, I'm so excited!"

* * *

Kiba leaned in to the stone pillar of the Inoichi's porch, eyes half lidded. If he didn't focus, or think to hard, he could almost feel Akamaru sitting next to him. Almost. A ghost of a feeling, really, but it was there. A part of him hoped it would always be there, but the rest of him knew he had to let go.

"How long before we go?" Udon asked from where he was sitting on the steps.

Kiba looked down at his newest team mate. Once more snot was dripping down his face. Akamaru had learned as a pup to keep his nose clean, he had to, smell was every thing. Kiba doubted Udon could smell onions if they were cut an inch away from his face. "Nose."

Udon swiped at it and blushed a little. "I have sinus problems you know." He sniffled.

"So fix them." Kiba shoved off the pillar and stepped down to stand next to the younger team mate. "Can you even feel it when it drips like that? It's disgusting."

Udon glared up at him. "No, I don't always feel it."

Kiba scowled a bit. "So wipe more frequently or some thing. Take pills"

Udon's glare turned darker, and a touch pouty. "Maybe I will." He rubbed at his nose again.

Kiba leaned closer and started at the youth. Small, thin, and messy looking he didn't look like he'd last more than a few minutes in any fight.

Udon leaned back away from Kiba's forceful gaze.

Kiba slumped against the pillar and folded his arms, huffing.

A long, long moment of silence stretched out after that. Udon started to fiddle around with the pockets of his dark vest, and pull out long forgotten weapons and items.

"I wonder who had these before we did." He pulled out a scrap of black cloth and unfolded it.

Curiosity scratched at Kiba's mind and he cautiously started to peek into his own pockets. In one he found a dark pair of sunglasses. He slipped them out and put them on. They felt a little big. "I don't know. If we live through our assignment we'll ask." He adjusted the glasses a couple of times, then examined him self in the side of a polished kuni. "These are keepers. Yes."

Udon paused for just a small moment, licked dry lips, then looked up brows all knit together in what looked like worry. "Kiba. . ."

"Look, I'm not, you know, it's _dangerous_, but I'll get us home. OK?" He tried to make his smile convincing.

"Yeah but..."

"Trust me, OK? I've been in some unfavorable situations. Some people may have died. But I didn't. My team didn't." Kiba slid the Kuni into it's holster. "I won't let the team down."

Udon stood and pulled the scrap of cloth over his head. "That's reassuring, it really is, but it's almost dark and. . ."

"I thought you weren't afraid of the dark."

"I'm not." He jabbed a finger towards Kiba's face. "Sunglasses." He waved his hand up and around at the sky. "Getting dark." He wiggled his fingers. "Do they help you see? Have powers?"

Kiba slid them down his nose and stared.

"Never mind." Udon turned away. "I'm _not _scared."

"You should be."

He looked at Kiba, eyes narrowing just a bit. "You just told me every thing will be OK."

"I said I'd try to _make_ things OK. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be on the alert."

"I know that." He glanced again at the lowering sun.

"You haven't graduated yet. So that makes you a civilian." Kiba pulled the sunglasses off and fiddled with them. "So that means I'm going to treat you like a civilian."

"...OK." Udon said slowly. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I guess that's fair enough, but, you know I'm not, I've almost graduated. Another two weeks and I'd be passing my test."

Kiba rolled that information around in his mind for a moment, and chose his next words carefully. "No head band, no ninja."

Udon opened his mouth to say some thing else, but Ino exited the house, several items in her hands. "Here. I have medical kits for you guys." She handed one to Kiba.

Kiba took it and looked it over. It wasn't standered issue. "Any thing special about these we should know?"

She handed another to Udon. "This one has non drowsy sinus medication in it. And some tissues." She shrugged with one shoulder. "Might make you more comfortable, at least."

Udon took it and tucked it in to his vest. "Thanks."

"Yeah. No problem."

"Captain?" Kiba asked.

She turned and gave him a forced smile. "Headache medicine, and some chakra neutralizers just in case your connections start to flare up."

"Ah." He shoved it deep into his vest. "Thanks, I guess."

She gave a half hearted shrug. "So..."

"This is your mission. _You_ give _us_ the orders to march." Kiba waved his hand in the general direction of the gate.

"R-right!" She shook her self a little and glanced out over the street. "OK, yeah, lets go then." She descended the steps. "If you guys are ready."

"_Ino_."

"Sorry." She chewed her lip and fixed her gaze down the street. "OK, move out then."

Kiba tromped down the steps after her. "Yes ma'am!"

Udon followed a little more hesitantly. "So, um, what road are we taking?"

Ino stopped and turned to look back. "We are going through the tree tops."

"Oh." He shuffled his feet for a moment. "OK. Yeah, I can do that."

Kiba rolled his eyes at the younger team member and fingered his medical kit. He knew he'd be popping a headache pill before they left the border. "Just try not to fall to your death. Alright?"

Udon nodded with little enthusiasm.

Kiba glanced at Ino, who returned the look with a mix of disbelief and worry. "Right." She turned, casting one last, some what harder look at Udon, before moving on.

Kiba grabbed Udon by the back of the neck and shoved him forward. "You, stay where I can watch you."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Sakura approached the Hokage tower with slow, shuffling steps. Dressed in the largest cleaning lady out fit she could find, and keeping the setting sun to her back, she hoped she could hide with out having to use any chakra. Many of the ninja who normally guarded the Hokage tower were back from their emergency mission to find the Akatsuki, but she hoped that they hadn't been placed back on their shifts just yet. It hadn't been a full twenty four hours yet and some of the ninja were still returning. If she was lucky there would be very few sensor types guarding the Hokage, and even fewer guards than normal over all. Still, she wasn't about to take any chances. She kept low, let the wash bucket hang rattling behind her, and kept her eyes shaded by a shabby hat.

She was almost to the tower's court yard when four men came out the main door, all talking, joking, and sporting a strange assortment of what looked like junk. She ignored them and shuffled closer.

She did not want to give her existence away, not yet. And she contently didn't want any one to recognize her. As a living ninja that knew the jinchuriki she was a target. As a dead ninja she was a deadly weapon.

As the four men passed her the tall blond stopped to glance down at her. She ducked her head low and held her breath. They all passed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she was at the doors.

She fingered the information still tucked away in her pocket, all of the data Orocimaru had collected over the years, and smiled just a little. She wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to do with it,though she knew she ought to turn it over. She didn't want to bribe, or force Tsunade in to doing any thing, but she knew if she just handed it over she'd be giving up all of her leverage.

She could bargain for Naruto's continued freedom, or she could demand out right that they all be classified as fully fledged shinobi, rather than just genin.

She rather liked that last idea. Under the cleaning lady outfit she had on her gray and black stolen sound uniform, and she wasn't inclined to give it up. She also was becoming fond of the boots. They felt solid, like they were weapons as much as they were cloths.

Yes, she tightened her hand around the data and set her mind on a promotion and more freedom to act independently when a crisis occurred.

Like the one when Kakashi had almost died.

She shoved that memory to the back of her mind and opened the door with just a little to much force for a supposed old woman to have. She quickly looked around, dreading being discovered, even by her own allies, and spotted only one person in the whole room. A fuming angry red headed woman. Sakura knew she'd never seen this woman before.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked, glancing at her for just a moment.

Sakura brought just a touch of chakra to her vocal chords to make her voice sound old and raspy. "I got sent here to clean while every one is out."

The read head leaned forward and propped her head up with her hand, elbow on the desk. "Got any paper work to prove that?" She popped some gum in to her mouth. "This is the Hokage tower after all, not just any body gets to be here." She blew a bubble.

Sakura folded her hands together and started to weave a little genjitsu. She then approached the desk, and held out a rag, weaving just enough chakra into it to make it look and feel like paper. "My orders."

The woman glanced at the rag, shrugged, and waved her hand. "OK, looks fine."

Sakura sucked a breath in, and stared at the woman. "You didn't even look at them." She had expected the staff to be short, but to be this low, and of such low quality, was startling. She backed away, and added 'staffing concerns' to the list of things she was going to talk to Tsunade about.

She looked up, slowly, and starred in to Sakura's eyes. "Are you here to kill, maim, terrorize, trouble, seek vengeance on, destroy, sabotage, or in any way do harm to any one in this building?"

"No." Sakura shook her head a little.

The woman continued to stare. Long, deep, and hard. Then with a shrug she waved her hand again, dismissing Sakura. "What do you want from me? I've been here for three shifts in a row, haven't had a shower, haven't had lunch, dinner, or even a snack!" She leaned back and folded her arms. "I've quit better jobs than this!"

Sakura winced. "I'm sorry I asked."

"If you see the Hokage you tell her, as a woman, she needs to make sure there's more equality!" The red head blew another bubble.

"I'll do that." Sakura inched away from the red head with the deep, pricing green eyes, and as soon as she was out of the woman's line of sight she hurried up the steps and to the main office.

She took a moment here to calm her self, lower he chakra again, and make sure no one was there to recognize her. Dead. She had to play dead if she was going to maximize her usefulness to Naruto. No sane ninja would go looking for her ghost.

Satisfied she was alone she reached up and knocked lightly on the door. Fast, but measured. It sounded like a normal knock to untrained ears, but here she and Tsunade had developed a coed.

No one answered.

Frowning she pressed her palm to the door and unlocked the chakra lock, then quietly entered the room. It was empty, and bathed in hot golden light. Sakura stepped up to the window and looked out over the city. Faar down below she could see the four men she had passed making their way throgh the evening crowd, headed towards the main gate.

She turned away and sat, dissatisfied, in the over stuffed Hokage's chair. This put a large crimp in her ability to bargain. You couldn't strike a deal if the other person wasn't going to be decent enough to actually be there. Absentmindedly she began to open and close drawer. There, in the top drawer, where Tsunade kept her writing supplies and booze was a ragged looking scrap of paper.

Sakura picked it up and gazed at it, mildly curious. Then she noticed the writing and instantly recognized it as a report written by Kakashi. She sat up straight and read it, quickly, and discovered it was the report from their mission to Sand to save Garra, the mission that had lead to Kakashi nearly dieing, and Naruto getting a second beast.

Sakura flipped it over and glanced at the back, saw only standard statistics, and then read the front over again. She could understand that this report may have wight over many others, considering the situation they were now all in, but why Kakashi's only?

She shoved the report back in to the desk drawer and leaned back to think. Her team was special, and different, and more high priority than any other. Tsunade had to have a reason to keep this one report hidden with her personal stash of alcohol. Sakura considered reading it again, but unless the words had magically changed on their own she'd never be able to divine the answer just from that one scrap of paper.

It was like looking at a slandered X-ray, but not being told what to look for. She had to see the patient and get a list of symptoms before she could diagnose and then try to cure the ailment. And her team was ill. As a medical professional she could sense it, and this was just one more symptom.

She stood, slowly, and turned back to the window. She needed more. The sun was almost down, it would be night, and her ninja traing was calling, whispering to her to do what had to be done for the good of her team. She scooped the cleaning bucket up and turned to the door that lead to the file room.

A smile graced her lips. She strode up to the door, and pressed her palm to it. If she couldn't negotiate then she'd just have to take what she wanted.

The guard on the other side of the door startled and lifted his weapon. "Stop! Who are you?"

"I'm here to clean."

"Clean what?" He demanded.

She shuffled in and held up her bucket. "The floor, do some dusting."

He shoved his weapon closer to her face. "You had better get out of here, you old hag!"

Fast as lightning she dropped the bucket, snatched his writs and twisted it, then turned him around.

"HEY!"

"Sleep." She barked, and pressed her free hand in to his spine, then sent a shot of chakra down his spine. He slumped, limp as a rag. Carefully she dragged him over to the wall and propped him up against it.

"You are lucky I'm on your side, and medically trained, and a ninja." She rolled her eyes at her own word. "That's a load of contradiction." She loosened his boots and carefully folded his hands over his lap. "My job gets any more crazy I might start talking to my self."

She stood, satisfied the man would be out cold for at least an hour, and turned to start looking through the files. There had to be an answer.

Only she didn't know exactly what her question was.

* * *

"Oh, row row row your boat, gently down the steam!" Kouta sang. "Marily, mearily, mearlily, life is but a dream!" He tossed down the camping equipment they had managed to scrounge up, before grabbing hold of one tent and unfolding it. "Say, oh Tex, fill us lesser beings in on what, exactly, we are going to be doing tonight."

Shou and Yori looked up from where they were both working on a tent together. They both turned towards Osamu.

The blond looked up over his small round glasses and cleared his throat. "We are merely taking scans tonight, Kouta. However, in the event we do encounter an entity, we are to observe only."

"Suppose it attacks us!" Shou said, nearly dropping his fist full of tenting material.

"Yeah, what happens if we get a nasty?" Yori asked. "You have to have some soert of plan for that."

Kouta grinned and tossed his tent wide, fluffing and unfolding it. "We do, in fact, have a trap."

"A trap?" Yori gave Kouta a wide eyed stare. "But Osamu said. . ."

"We made our own." Osamu cut him off. "None of the equoment from home made it here, so I improvised on what we have at our disposal."

"You going to show me?" The darker man asked. He stuffed a tent poll in to it's sleeve.

"Perhaps we can demonstrate after camp has been set up." The blond nodded. He then turned away and started to wander in close circles around the camp aria with the modified radio in one hand, and his bundle of camp supplies in the other.

Kouta continued to watch him as he assembled his tent. He winced when at one point Osamu very nearly walked in to a tree, but the blond avoided it at the last moment.

Shou and Yori got their tent up after a few moments of struggle. It was a big tent, big enough for all four of them if they had to use it. Kouta wrestled with his tent polls, content to have a room to him self for the night. He managed to gethe the flimsy looking shelter up in only a few minutes more, and tossed his sleeping bag inside.

Osamu was still trekking around, the radio glowing softly now and then.

"You want to toss that tent up some time tonight?" He called after Osamu made another round. "Or are you just going to keep dancing?"

The blond looked up, eyes not entirely focused. "Oh." he glanced down at the bundle under his arms. "Hm."

Shou laughed and jogged up to him. "I'll set it up for you. Where do you want it?"

"Any where is fine." Osamu replied. "Thank you."

"Any time!"

Yori started to gather rocks for the fire pit. "Man it's been ages since I've been camping in the woods. My pop used to tell me the best ghost stories. Scared the pants right off of me."

"Ghost stories." Kouta scooped up some branches. "Why does that not surprise me?"

Shou looked up from his task. "We should tell..."

"No." Kouta lifted a finger. "No spooky stories while looking for spooks. It's bad luck. If we are going to tell stories they ought to be about the living."

Osamu appeared next to him, his hair taking on a strange radiance in the evening light. "I am going to have to agree with Kouta on this one, Shou. I'd rather not have him become jumpy in case we do find some thing."

Kouta stood and thrust out his lower lip in the best pout he could manage. "Awe, you don't believe in me."

Osamu only gave him a dry, humorless look in response.

"Ass." Kouta grinned.

"Well if ghost stories are out, what can we tell?" Yori asked. "Sports stories?"

"I used to play golf when I was in high school." Shou quipped.

Kouta shook his head. "Stories are supposed to keep us awake, buddy, not put us to sleep."

"I could reiterate my theory in more detail, ensuring we are all of one understanding." Osamu offered as he sat down.

Kouta settled in next to him. "What did I JUST say?" He stabbed a finger towards Osamu. "If we are going to make it through the night with out lots, and lots of coffee, then maybe we should hear some thing exciting."

"This is exciting." Osamu replied, keeping his face straight.

"I'll bite." Yori sat down and started to work on lighting the fire wood. "Give me the deep and dirty on these things."

Shou settled in opposite of Kouta. "You know I really wish we had some chips and hot dogs right about now. I love camp food. Makes hearing stories, or theories in this case, a lot more involved."

"I have ration bars." Osamu offered. He reached in to his vest and pulled one out.

Shou gave it a long, hard look. "Yeah, OK." He took it and peeled the wrapper back.

"I didn't know you were in to compressed cardboard." Kouta teased. Then his own stomach grumbled.

With out being asked Osamu shoved a ration bar on to Kouta's hands. "Yori?"

"No, thanks man, but if I get hungry I'll eat a dead squirrel or some thing."

Kouta took a bite and scowled. "You save some of that for me." He set the bar aside. "All right, entertain us."

"I will endeavor to educate you, Kouta." Osamu flashed him a small smile. "As much of a challenge as that will be." With the sun sinking down even farther his normally blond hair was looking almost fiery red.

Kouta tilted his head to the side and appreciated just how demonic it looked at the moment. "Hey, we graduated in the same year. From the same collage. I'm _edu-ma-cated_."

"Same calender year, not same scholastic year." He pushed his glasses up his nose, and cleared his throat.

There was a moment of silence in the still evening air where only the small crackle of flames, punctuated by the crinkle of cellophane could be heard. Then Osamu started.

"Chakra beings are. . ."

"And I'm board already." Kouta snatched up the radio and stood. "I'll scan while you talk, OK?"

Osamu reached up and carefully pulled the radio back. "Sit."

Kouta sighed and plopped back down. "Right." Distractedly he started to toy with his hair.

"Chakra beings are not, in fact, dead. Nor are they technically speaking alive either."

Kouta glanced at Osamu from behind his pulled down bangs. "So we can't really call them ghosts, can we?"

"I say we ought to." Yori prodded the flames. "Every one else does, no reason to confuse people, right?"

"I agree." Shou looked up from his half eaten ration bar. "Ghosts or demonic spirits. That's what I keep hearing."

"Like the Fox." Kouta pointed out. "In that blond guy."

"Guy." Osamu looked down, a frown crossing his features. "That 'guy' is a child of no more than sixteen years old."

Kouta sucked in a breath at that information. That was new, and unsettling. "Whoa, wait, time out. They stuck a daemon in side of a kid?"

"When he was an infant." Shou said around a bite. "But like, he's used to it or some thing."

"That's harsh, man." Yori shook his head and jabbed a little harder at the fire. "Couldn't they find another way?"

"We aren't here to judge them." Osamu pointed out. "And we may be able to assist them in finding another way."

"OK, I'll bite, how?" Kouta asked.

Osamu picked up the radio. "Chakra is energy, organic, and mindless. However if a strong enough emotional imprint is made into it it can retain that imprint."

"Like a Sunday funny in silly putty?" Shou asked.

"Some thing like that, yes." Osamu nodded. "If enough chakra gets a large enough imprint it may start to coalesce into a free roaming entity. Condensed, and imprinted on even further it could begin to form electric paths with in it's own nebulous body. Those paths would act as very primitive sensors, reacting to stimuli. Then if added too those sensor networks would link up, forming an even more active, and aware energy cloud. That cloud could be fed, and in fact grow to become a primitive life form like structure, say, on par with cordyceps. . ."

"OK, OK, we get it." Kouta waved his hand. "Slowly over time, with enough feelings and energy these things _evolve_. Right?"

"Yes." He shifted a little, and fussed with the hem of his shirt. "But as I was about to say the time in which it takes a chakra being to form depends not so much on time it's self, or even on the available emotional imprints, but on the volume of chakra available for compression."

Shou sat up straighter. "So, a lot of chakra all at once in the air could make for one or more of these ghosts quickly?"

"Yes." Osamu nodded, once. "And if a living being already possessed chakra, was killed, and releases all of it's chakra at once, that could trigger the formation of one of these free roaming life forms."

"But you said that was unlikely to happen." Kouta frowned. "So what gives?"

"Normally, with little chakra available, nothing could form, however. . ."

"However," Yori interjected, "this city is just crawling with chakra, thanks to that fox daemon."

Shou's eyes light up. "That would make this place a prime breeding ground for these sort of things!" He looked around at the quickly dimming forest, then leaned over the fire a little, closer to the group. "Boy, could you imagine what would happen if you had two of those tailed beasts? Every thing killed here in the city might turn into a ghost!"

Osamu frowned. "I had considered that, yes." He lifted the radio. "I also got strange readings."

"From where?" Kouta asked.

Osamu peered out past the group in to the woods. "From every where."

From some where not to distant a dog howled, long, hollow, and mournful.

_..._

Kiba shuddered. The sound of a lone howl froze him to the spot. It sounded like... like...

"Sir?" Ino asked.

He looked up, not able to focus on her entirely. "What?"

"Are you OK?" Udon asked.

Kiba glanced down at him, then nodded numbly.

"Sir." Ino said, firmly.

Kiba shook his head. "Yes, captain, sorry." He stepped forward and came abreast of her. "Lead on."

She cast him a long look, then quickly gently touched him on the arm. It was warm, light, and held a lot of chakra. She was checkng his systems.

"Yes sir."

She was comforting him.

He pulled back, but lifted his chin.

"Move out." She started to march on.

Kiba followed, but could not help but to glance back just once. This would be his first mission with out. . .

Udon passed him, and tossed up a concerned look.

Kiba let it go, and followed his appointed pack leader.

* * *

The dark was growing all around her, like ink, blotting out any presence of her light skin. She set her cleaning supplies aside and approached the filing cabinet that held all of the information on Kakashi. Silently she slid her fingers into the handle and pressed a little chakra into it. It clicked and sprung open an inch or so.

She could just see the white of the papers held within when a dark shadow flickered in her peripheral vision. She continued to open the drawer, acting as though she was ignorant of the presence. The shadow appeared again, closer, more solid. A hot breath drifted over the back of her neck.

Her fingers stilled over the edges of the paper, and she readied her self. There was a flat moment where nothing seemed to move, then with sudden speed the shadow leaped for her. She darted back, away from the papers, and tossed her disguise. "Show your ..."

A hand slammed into her throat and tightened, cutting her off. She gasped, and looked up, but in the dark she couldn't make out who was on her. The figure shoved, hard, and in an instant she was pinned down to the floor. A glitter of sharp mettle flashed before her eyes. _Kunai_! She watched as it's point rushed in and was thrust up into the flesh of her chin.

"Who are you?" A man asked coolly.

With effort she heaved in a breath under sticky cold fingers. Past the arm that trapped her down she could see his face more clearly. Defiantly she gazed into deep brown eyes. A familiar scar graced the man's nose.

Iruka. But he was different, some how, changed. She could feel his chakra needling unsteadily between them. His eyes were hollow, blank looking.

_"I think some thing is wrong with Iruka sensei."_

_Sakura glanced up at the window on Tsunade's office and Naruto followed her gaze. The teacher was watching them with a blank stare._

"Well either choke me or cut me, make up your mind." She said with a huff.

His grip tightened, and he leaned in, just a little, eyes narrowing. "I asked you a question!"

She scowled. "It would be most effective to cut the carotid artery." She reached up and tapped her neck. "Just under the left ear."

"You are too brave to be a cleaning lady." He blinked and his chakra leveled out just a little.

She glared up at him, letting the light catch her eyes.

"Sakura?" He let go and moved back. The weapon was hastily with drawn and pushed back in to it's holster. "Are you trying to get killed?" He snapped.

She sat up and rubbed her throat. "I was simply trying to avoid a fight."

He stood and offered her a hand. "Why are you sneaking around in here?"

She took the hand and hauled her self up. "I'm supposed to be dead. I don't want to be seen if I can help it." She let his hand go and checked her neck. There was just a little blood. She made a deliberate motion of wiping it off, then pressing her hand to her neck to heal it.

No sympathy or guilt registered. She frowned, feeling unnerved by him. This was a total contrast from when she had seen him with Naruto. He seemed cold now, dry and disinterested. Before he'd been so loving.

"You should have told me, I'd have let you in." He glanced at the man slumped in the corner. "You could have avoided giving the intern a concussion."

For the last three years when Naruto had been gone they had worked together, her and Iruka. During that time she had come to know him as one of the most gentle, caring, honest people she had ever known. This...

"He's fine." She scooped up her disguise. "I put him to sleep without hitting his head."

This felt wrong.

Iruka frowned dully, but nodded. "I'll have to report this."

Sakura gave him a flat look. "You do that." She turned and pulled Kakashi's files out of the cabinet, then started to thumb through them.

Iruka came up close behind her, and she could feel his breath on her neck. She turned, looked up at him, and folded her arms. "If you would, I'd like to go about my business with out you hovering."

Iruka bristled, just a little. "That's Kakashi's file."

"It is." She stared.

"What are you planing to do with it?"

"Read it."

Iruka took a deep breath.

Sakura felt just a touch smug. "Shouldn't you be with Naruto?"

There, just for a moment, was a flicker of deep sorrow. "I left him with a clone."

Sakura backed down, a little, and fidgeted with her papers. "How is... how's he doing?"

Iruak backed up as well. He glanced about for a long moment, then looked down at his hands. "We need to talk, Sakura. There are things you need to know that aren't in those papers."

She could feel the sudden shift in his mood, the cool, dark ninja melted in to a man, exhausted and strung out. His pony tail was limp, and his eyes shimmered with deep pain.

"Yeah?" She asked.

He nodded. "Put the papers away. I'll take you out for supper. Some where where you won't be seen."

Reluctantly she replaced the stack of reports and closed the drawer. "After that I want you to let me back in."

He frowned. "You won't need those papers after I've filled you in."

* * *

The howl died out and left the world a darkening shade of red. The trees loomed up around them, spectral in the evening mist.

Kouta stood, made grasping motions for some thing, any thing to defend him self with. "All right, you mad scientist you, tell me that thing you had the Hyuga trapped with is here."

"The containment scroll." Osamu stood calmly and pulled one from his pocket. "They still need testing."

Shou already had the second radio out and was waving it around. "Oh boy! Look at this guys!" He held it up to show the group. "The paper is making all sorts of nifty shapes and turning all sorts of colors!"

"Not just white or blue?" Yori asked. He leaned in close and hung over Shou's shoulder. "I thought it could only turn two colors. Got any ideas, Osamu?"

The blond stated and shoved his glasses up his nose. "Well, to be precise, no."

Kouta glanced around. The forest seemed to be crawling now. _Fantastic, why do we end up in these situations? _ He glanced over at Yori. _And he just got back, too_. "Any one think this is a bad idea? Yori?"

"Dude, you gotta see this! This thing's going nuts!"

Kouta scowled at how excited his darker team mate sounded. He turned and gave Osamu a pointed glare. "Tell me these things will work."

"On a living human they can work, but with afore mentioned draw backs..."

"_Tex_." Kouta growled.

Osamu sighed. "There's only one way to find out if my calculations were correct in regards to the inhuman manifestations."

"Guys!" Shou shoved his way in between them. "Look at this!"

All four sets of eyes turned to look down at the modified radio. Arcs of energy in all sorts of color were bouncing around. Little licks of flame, shards of stone, whispers of air, damp mist, and the sparks were all appearing and vanishing rapidly over the thin sheet of chakra paper.

"What in the world?" Yori wondered, awe struck.

"Physical manifestations." Osamu reached out for the modified radio, stopped him self from taking it from Shou, then retrieved his own. With in moments his own device was doing the same thing. He turned it on and keening shrieks, not quite human, erupted from the speakers.

"OK, count of hands, who thinks Osamu is right about ghosts?" Kouta asked, thrusting his own hand sky high.

Three more hands shot up along side his.

"Why is it doing this?" Yori asked. "I mean, blue or white..."

Shou frowned. "They worked OK this morning."

"Hmm." Osamu lowered his radio. "It's plausible it could be feeding off of our own chakra, and mixing with the growing ambient levels."

"So for now they are useless?" Shou asked.

"It would seem that way. I'll have to do further research to see if I can shield them from our influence." He sat down and took his radio apart.

Another howl sounded out, closer.

Kouta grimaced and started at where the sound was coming from. "Not to doubt your expet level at creating a device that can tell us if what we have is a human or not, Osamu buddy, but I think we got a wolf."

"Or that ghost dog." Yori offered. He grabbed one of the test scrolls and started to walk slowly back towards the road, and the source of the cries.

"I can't wait to try this new stuff out!" Shou snatched his scroll up and trotted after Yori.

"Are you guys crazy?" Kouta asked, but he was scooping his own scroll up as well. "I mean supose thins thing has eaten a lot of other ghosts and is bigger than a dog, or some thing?"

Shou's eyes lit up. "Wouldn't that be neat?"

"Not." Kouta said levelly, following them further from the fire. "My point."

"AH HA!" Osamu called from behind them. "I found a feed back lou... Guys?"

"Gear up, Tex, we're doing this." Kouta tossed over his shoulder.

The blond scrambled to collect his things and follow.

By the time he caught up they were all breaching the tree line, and hit the rode.

Osamu pulled his newly modified, modified radio out and scanned the aria. "Three human signatures for sure, very resent." He waved the radio again. "And one animal."

A low growl sounded out from all around them.

"Please tell me that was your stomach, Shou." Kouta looked at the rounder red headed team mate.

Shou was grinning. "Oh man, this is fantastic!"

"You can take that as a no." Yori offered.

Kouta sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Right, so what's the plan?"

"We lure it out, then trap it." Osamu replied, mater-of-fact.

"We need bate." Yori added.

"So not it." Kouta stepped back towards the tree line and bumped rather sollidly in to some thing warm, short, and trembling. "Uh, guys?" The object growled.

The other thrree turned slowly, numbly, the scrols forgotten in their hands.

Shou's eyes widened and for a moment the excitement drained from his face. "Whoa!"

Kouta glanced up at the sky. It was black and a few stars were shining. "Why do you hate me?"

The snarl sounded again. Hot breath penetrated the back of Kouta's pant legs.

Kouta's head snapped back down. "New plan, guys. RUN FOR IT!"

* * *

Iruka pushed his eggs around sullenly. He could feel Sakura's eyes on him, waiting expectantly for answers.

He took a slow breath and rubbed his temple. He had a head ache starting up, and it was only going to get worse. At least he'd managed to clean him self up before he'd found Sakura lurking around in the dark, snooping.

He'd tried to catch up to Kakashi's dog, but the little beast had slipped down some thing dark and far to narrow for a human to pass through. After that Iruka had planed to check on the file room. If Udon had opened the locked file, the one set to explode, then it could have been left unstable. He didn't want any one killed on accident there. Plus he was worried about the boy.

Just one more problem in a long line. Udon was going to have to wait.

"Iruka." Sakura's voice drew out slowly. "Talk while you torture your food."

Iruka. No Iruka Sensei, no Iruka San, Just _Iruka_. He wondered when she had grown up.

"Forgive me, Sakura, it has been a long day." He set his utensils down. "A long few days."

"That it has." She granted with a nod. "Lets start with the obvious. I haven't heard from or seen Naruto sense this morning. He at your place?"

"He's at Lady Shizune's right now." Iruak toyed with his napkin, unable to keep his hands still for long.

"He said he wanted to go home." Sakura took a bite. "Some thing wrong? He isn't becoming septic again, is he?" She swallowed, then stabbed a bean bun. "I thought I pulled all of the trash out of him."

"He tried to go home, but..." Iruka leaned back, his appetite gone. "His apartment was broken into. It was trashed."

She turned and looked up at him with a hot, angry glare. "Trashed? What do you mean by that?"

He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the memory, but it only brought the images closer, made them more vivid. "They ruined every thing they could get their hands on, and wrote derogatory things all over the walls." He opened his eyes again and found no relief from the ghost like memories haunting his vision.

Sakura scowled down at her food. "Do you know who did it?"

"Sloppy peasant work." Iruka picked up a chopstick and shoved his eggs around some more. "They'll be easy to track. But Naruto..." He shook his head. "After what happened between him and Kakashi. . ."

Kakashi!" Sakura looked up and twisted all the way around in her seat to face him. She leaned forward. "Tell me about him. Is he alright? I haven't gone to see him yet."

Iruka leaned away from her, dreading what he was about to do. _Team Seven, why was it always Team Seven?_ A part of him suddenly wished fervently that Sakura _had_ been killed. It would be so much easier that way. "Kakashi is..." He fought to find the right words. "When he learned you two were dead he lost it."

He watched her, watched as her eyes took on a sharper, colder look. "But he's OK now, right?"

All Iruka could do was shake his head. "He rejected Naruto."

Sakura didn't look away, she didn't even flinch. "Then what?"

Irula was taken aback by her steely attitude. She'd been strong, but the lack of concern for the news of her teacher was different. "N-Naruto went home, found his apartment in ruins..." Iruka winced inwardly as anew wash of memories entered his mind. Naruto, sobbing in the street like a lost child, it tore his heart up. "I found him, crying, and took him to Shizune's place."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "I see." She turned back to her food and continued eating, stabbing the food angerly. Slowly hot tears began to fall. "I'll go to Kakashi right away." She slammed her chopstick in to a pile of rice. "Naruto was in shock after every thing. I can't imagine the conversation the two of them had would have been particularly articulate." She stabbed the rice again and the stick broke.

He wanted to reach out and comfort her like had had with Naruto, but she wasn't his. She belonged to the Hokage, and as such he knew she'd get in the way of the plans. She'd pull Naruto right back to Kakashi, and the blond would fall apart.

The city would fall for sure.

There was no help for it, Irula realized, Sakura was going to have to be eliminated as an obstacle. Shaking, Iruka forced him self to take a slow, deliberate bite. "Maybe you'll have more luck than Naruto did."

"Luck." She snorted. "Luck isn't what this team needs or has, Iruka." She looked up and jabbed the broken chopstick at him in the air. "What we got is one undefinable, unstoppable, Jinchuriki who never. _Ever_. Gives up. Naruto isn't luck, he's a damned miracle. And that's exactly when this team needs when I pull us all in to the same room tomorrow." She lowered the chopstick. "So long as Naruto is alive I have hope. That's my ninja way, you know, never give up hope." She turned back to her food, tossed the broken chopstick aside, and scooped the rest of it up with her fingers.

Iruka absorbed the words with a bitter sweet feeling. She was every thing he had hoped she'd become. But that every thing, that passion and that determination, was what now painted her as his target. He set his utensils aside and swallowed the bitter taste creeping up his throat. "Sakura."

"Yeah?" She glanced up.

"You know some times hope isn't enough."

"Miracle blond." She said through her bite. "We covered this."

Iruka chuckled sadly. "That he is, isn't he?"

She nodded, swallowed,and wiped her hands off. "I'll be by first thing in the morning to talk to him. Then he and I are tracking down Kakashi. You want to help?"

Iruka nearly choked, and managed to shake his head 'no'.

She shrugged. "Fine. It's Team Seven business any way." She stood, crumpled he napkin, and dropped it on tot he plate. "If you change your mind though it might be nice to have you there as the calm head to moderate."

"I haven't been too calm in the head lately, Sakura."

She looked down at him and frowned. "It has been a long few days." She set her hand on his and smiled a little. "We gotta believe in Naruto. Seems like that's what the whole world is counting on."

At that he laughed shakily. "Yeah, yeah that's true."

She squeezed his hand, then left. "Thank you for the meal and the intell, Sensei." She tossed casually over her shoulder.

Iruak watched her go, and started after where she had been long after she vanished from view. He could kill Kakashi, he could, but nothing in him could make him self kill her. Not her, not one of his students.

Still, he had to keep her out of the way. Her and Tsunade together would bring the whole operation down. He couldn't have that. He couldn't let Naruto be caged.

He sank back, buried his face in his hands, and groaned. Kakashi... and now Sakura. He just wished they were both dead already.

Both dead. He lifted his head, just a little, and wondered if he could find away for the two to take each other out. Kaksahi was insane enough,and he'd already killed a team mate before. Not only was it plausible, but Iruka knew that if he pushed the information just right he could convince the Copy Cat Ninja that Sakura was some sort of brainwashed agent after being captive in Sand.

Kakashi would have no choice but to kill her.

The only problem was convincing Tsunade that Sakura was such an agent. Coldly, he realized that if he got Inoichi involved then it was very possible to shift the truth just enough to get it done.

With a new plan in place he stood, pulled out his money, and set it down on the table. As he set down the payment he noticed his hands. They were still shaking.

* * *

Kiba heard a cry, behind them, hound like. Familiar. His steps faltered and he stopped. Every chakra connection that Ino had silenced tingled.

The other two stopped and looked back.

Ino looked Kiba over and frowned. "M-maybe we should wait till day time."

Kiba clenched his fists, closed his eyes and willed the lingering, dying connections to fall silent. Far in the distance, near the gates, a dog was howling. Long, low, but not his. Never his. "NO!"

The other two flinched. "No more stalling!" He looked up at the blond, then marched past her. "Sorry, captain, but if you can't lead us out then I will." He started to walk.

"Kiba?"

He glared back. "Call me sir." He snapped. "Now move out!"

Ino and Udon shared worried looks, but then hurried to catch up. "Yes sir!" Ino managed.

Kiba leaped in to the trees. And didn't look back to see if he was being followed. Not by his team.

Not by the ghosts that lingered in the back of his mind.

* * *

Kouta looked back to see if he was being followed. By his team, or by the ghost that was nothing like what he'd imagined in his mind.

It wasn't a twelve foot tall green monster with razor sharp teeth and glowing eyes. It was a dog sized black and white monster with razor sharp teeth and glowing eyes. It hat two kunai sticking out of it's vaporal body.

It was also the only thing chasing him.

"YOU GUYS!" He cried. "Some friends you are!"

"That's it, Kouta, keep it occupied!" Yori called back.

"I'm never going camping with you again!" Kouta screamed, then his foot slammed into an obtrusive tree root, and he tripped. He pitched forward, flailed trying to catch him self, but hit the ground any way.

"KOUTA!" Osamu shouted, fear finally tinting his voice.

Kouta rolled to his back in time to see the energy beast sailing for him. It slammed in to his chest and knocked the wind out of his lungs. He struggled, but it pinned him down limb for limb.

"Do some thing!" Yori cried.

"The scrolls aren't working!" Osamu replied.

"OH, KOUTA! I can't watch!" Shou wailed.

Kouta thrashed, pulled one arm free, and held it up between his face and the fangs. "OK, good boy, get off Doctor K. now, all right? "I'll give you my ration bar."

The hound snarled and leaned in closer. Kouta could see one of the Kunai burried up to it's hilt in the anima's chest. It looked solid, cruel.

"That's how you died, isn't it?" Kouta looked up at the blank, rage filled eyes. He lowere his hand from his face and carefully wrapped his fingers around the blade's handle. He could hear his tema yelling, telling him to hang on, to give them only a moment, to wait.

He was done waiting on Osamu's science and Shou's eager hope. "Easy now, no bitting my head off, OK?" He was done waiting for Yori to simply show up.

"One."

The fangs inched towards his throat.

"Two." He tightened his grip.

A low growl rumbled from the dog.

"THREE!" Kouta yanked the blade free and rolled. The dog shrieked and thrashed, drool and blood splattered every where. Kouta scrambled to his knees while the undead monstrosity shook, but could not get far enough away from it before it jumped him again. This time he was pinned down on his side.

From the road side his friends were clearly panicking. And clearly still not helping matters. The mongrel bit down hard on Kouta's arm. He felt ivory crunch in to bone and made his own pained howl.

"KOUTA!" Shou screamed. "Get rid of the weapon!" There was a desperate tone to his voice. "It's after the weapon!"

Kouta gave it what toss he could, and it clattered to the ground not far away. Then it vanished in a puff of mist.

The dog calmed a little and lessened it's grip.

"Pull the other one out!" Yori shouted.

With nothing else to do or try Kouta did as he was told. He reached with his free arm up, and over to the Kunai buried in the hound's side. He grabbed it and braced him self, then pulled. It slid out with little effort. In a moment it to evaporated from existence.

For several moments nothing happened. Then the hound let go of his arm.

"Kouta?" Osamu called, fear in every letter.

Kouta opened one eye and peered up at his attacker. It was standing still, head up. The blood was vanishing from it's fur, like the blades had vanished.

It was still dead.

"Good dog?" Kouta wiggled a little. "Off?"

The mongrel looked down, in to his eyes. The rage was fadding.

"Off?" Kouta asked again.

The dog tilted it's head, and it's tail wagged just a little.

"Off!" Kouta shoved, but it wouldn't budge.

A long, wet, slimy pink tongue appeared...

"No! _NO_!"

...and was roughly dragged from chin to hair line.

Three sets of boots thundered up to him, stopped short by a few feet, and held still. Kouta could see Osamu playing with his radio again. Shou stepped up and leaned over the dog, grinning once more. "Oh NEAT-O!" He reached down and started to scratch the undead beast's ears. "You reversed it's insanity!"

"I am a psychiatrist." Kouta winced and rubbed at the very real wounds on his arm. "Uh, a little help?"

"Sorry!" Shou tugged the ghost dog off and pulled him to the center of the group. "He sure is friendly." He leaned in tot he white fur. "Man I always wanted a dog!"

"No." Kouta struggled to sit up. Yori jumped in and haled him to his feet.

"It's power reading has stabilized. It could be a valuable study aid."

"No!" Kouta hissed and peeled his sleeve away.

Yori pulled out first aid. "Could be nice to have a hound around." He looked down at the creature. "They can be taught all sorts of neat tricks. Could be good for fetching slippers, or ratting out other spooks!"

Kouta snatched the first aid kit from Yori. "We are not keeping the dog. It BIT me!"

Osamu knelt down and started petting it. "I'm sure this is the one that was killed a few days ago."

Kouta sighed and pulled the disinfectant out. "No one is listening to me."

Yori knelt as well and added his own hands to the mix. "Awe, what a good boy!"

Kouta sighed, wrapped his arm, then, after another quick glare up at the stars, knelt down too. He grabbed the dog's ruff and turned the beast to face him. "No."

It whined and tried to lick his chin.

"No, we don't need..."

It sat down, lifted both paws in a begging gesture and whimpered. It gave him wide, dark, puppy eyes.

Kouta looked away, any way, that wasn't into it's eyes. "How do they do that?"

The other three were still petting it. Looking at him. The same sort of pleading clear in their eyes.

"He's so fluffy." Shou buried his face in the ethereal fur.

"FINE!" Kouta stood and marched back towards the camp. "Fine. But no barking. No Growling." Suddenly the dog was at his side, pressing in, nuzzling his hand. "No eating of my food. No sliming my food!" The undead mutt licked his fingers. "No sleeping in my bed, or playing my music." The dog's tail wagged, thumping roughly against the back of his knee. "No crotch sniffing, toilet drinking then face kissing!"

The dog passed him then stood in front of him, blocking his way. He panted, open mouth. It looked like a smile.

Kouta looked down, frowning. "What?"

The dog reached up with one paw and made primitive grabbing motions at Kouta's injured arm. It then pulled the same paw over it's eyes, and looked away.

"I think he's apologizing, Kouta." Shou said with a smile his own.

"Dogs aren't that smart." Kouta patted it's head any way. "But what ever. I don't think he'll do it again." He turned to Osamu. "Right? He's fixed now?"

Osamu rubbed his chin for a moment. "This is fascinating."

"That's not a yes or no." Kouta pointed out.

"It was enraged at death, from an apparent fight." The blond let his chin go. "Anger is the last thing it felt, obviously. I'd need more data, but it appears what ever emotion is strongest at death defines what the chakra energy's attitude will be."

"But he fixed it." Yori said. "It didn't stay angry."

"This is a base animal." Osamu pointed out. "It's problems were obvious, and once removed it had no reason to be angry. A human ghost won't be so easy to fix." His eyes darkened. "Should anyone of the ninja of this village, with any mental health problems, die then we could be in serious trouble."

Kouta turned and looked down at the slightly glowing muzzle resting in his hand. "I got a bad feeling about this city."

Dark brown puppy eyes looked up at him, as if in agreement.

* * *

Sakura stood, stiff with silent burning rage, as she eyed what remained of Naruto's apartment. She'd wanted to hunt for Kakashi straight away, but she had found her self here, needing to know just how bad the damage was.

There was nothing left unbroken. Plates, pots, windows, decorations, pictures: all of it had been systematically smashed.

Even his fern lay dead.

After every thing that had happened Naruto did not need this.

Team Seven did not need this.

"Of all the wretched, horrible, immoral things..." She took a deep, angry, breath, and turned burning angry eyes towards the anti Jinchuriki graffiti scrawled all over the walls. The messy, vibrant words hailed the death of the Nine Tailed Fox as a blessing, and a sign of peace for the village.

She clenched her fist, eager to pulverize the dried paint off the walls, but she held back and swallowed the rage. Instead she tried to focus her mind on healing, rather than harming. She looked the damaged walls and suport beams over with the eye of a bone setter, and smiled a little. Most of the damage was superficial, and could easily be repaired. Very little looked as though it had to be replaced.

Her mind drifted back to Captain Yamato. His skills would quickly heal the damage here with his wood technique. If she could find him. She sighed and put that chore at the end of a growing to-do list. Her first, and foremost priority was Naruto. With two tailed beasts the blond teen was immensely powerful, and incredibly dangerous. While Yamato had been able to trap Naruto in the wood technique the house so dearly needed now Sakura doubted the man could keep Naruto bound indefinitely.

Really the only hope of keeping the city safe now if Naruto lost his temper was a Shaengan. And the only one who possessed that was Kakashi. Every thing seems to be coming back to him now. Him and Naruto.

She frowned and felt a familiar burn in the back of her throat. Kakashi had to be hurting incredibly bad now, to have rejected Naruto the way he had. Hurt and angry. As he was he could not help the blond. Sakura knew that with out some sort of intervention the two were destined to clash again, and again, until one of them broke the other.

If Naruto broke then the city would be obliterated off the map.

If Kakashi broke he'd die, she was sure of it, and that would in turn rip Naruto apart.

There was no help for it. Sakura had to go after the Copy Cat ninja her self and bring him back. Sedated and bound if she had to. If Naruto couldn't get through to him then maybe she could.

Because she was afraid he was going to die a painful, angry death if she didn't.


End file.
